Another Pointless E-mail Forward

I received an e-mail the other day from someone that I otherwise love and trust. In her defense, she didn’t originate the e-mail, she simply forwarded it without looking into the non-issue that it represented.

Here’s the e-mail…

REFUSE NEW $ COINS
This simple action will make a strong statement.

Please help do this...refuse to accept these when they are handed to you. I received one from the Post Office as change and I asked for a dollar bill instead. The lady just smiled and said 'way to go' so she had read this e-mail. Please help out...our world is in enough trouble without this too!!!!!
U.S. Government to Release New Dollar Coins


You guessed it
'IN GOD WE TRUST'
IS GONE!!!
If ever there was a reason to boycott something, THIS IS IT!!!!

DO NOT ACCEPT THE NEW DOLLAR COINS AS CHANGE

Together we can force them out of circulation.

Please send to everyone on your mail list!!!

I have several issues with this e-mail.

First off, these “new” dollar coins have been in circulation for about three years.

Second off, really… isn’t our world in enough trouble without us sweating stuff like whether or not a phrase is included on a coin? How spoiled are we if this is the most worrying thing in our lives.

Third off – “In God We Trust” was not added to our money until after the civil war – a time when the country felt SO pulled apart, that we had to trust in God to hold us together because – let’s face it – we were doing a really piss-poor job of it ourselves.

And there’s also a group of us out there who would prefer our God and our money to be kept SEPARATE unless we are doing something good FOR our God WITH our money. Honestly, folks, we don’t live in a theocracy – Christian or otherwise – and THANK GOD FOR IT! I’ve tried to stress to narrow-minded Christians out there that the people who want a “CHRISTIAN” America won’t be satisfied when all of the Atheists, Muslims, Bhuddists, etc., are gone. Next they’ll go after the Jews. I know that you’re working together now, but let’s face it guys – YOU KILLED CHRIST! As “The Passion of the Christ” and the furor surrounding it demonstrates, we’re not going to let you get away with that forever! Next comes the Catholics… or, as the bigots called them when I was a kid (and a Catholic) – the “papists”. You guys worship statues, revere iconography and consider God a triumvirate! Can’t have that!

What then? When all that’s left in “God-fearing” America are a bunch of Protestants, what comes then? Well, then I suspect that they’ll come after people like me who pray in our homes instead of in the streets and the temples. And don’t forget that there are plenty of different sects to go after each other.

Look, guys – I’d just as soon see “In God We Trust” disappear from every coin, from everyTHING that the Government touches. It was not governmentally mandated that a new president say “So help me God” – George Washington did that of his own accord, and it’s been TRADITION every since, not REQUIRED.

Lastly… and probably most importantly when it comes to stopping this balderdash e-mail… is that IT SAYS IN GOD WE TRUST ON THE STUPID COIN! It’s engraved around the edge, along with what many of us feel is our true national motto – the one that REALLY exemplifies the spirit of American diversity and acceptance that has made us the great country that we are – “E Pluribus Unim”. “From many – one.”

So please… if you get this pointless e-mail, DON’T forward it. Stop it in its tracks, and let the person who forwarded it to you know that they DO say “In God We Trust”.

Peace.

Randal