“De-baptizing” money
6 November 2009 by Stardust
Chuck A sent me this link Spending Godless Money By Mitchell Kahle
How about we all carry a red ink pen with us and subtly start making our point that reference to religion is not acceptable on government money? I know it’s just a little thing, but this is something that all of us can take a second to do to make a big point.
Kahle writes:
“In God We Trust” was put on all paper currency by an Act of Congress in 1955; the phrase was declared the national motto by an Act of Congress in 1956 and first appeared on paper currency in 1957.
The mid-to-late 1950s were a time of overt racism, religious discrimination, and political oppression in the United States. McCarthyism was at its feverous peak. The “red scare” had Congress and President Eisenhower acting in paranoid fits of illegal and unconstitutional activity. The FBI, under the militant J. Edgar Hoover, engaged in illegal spying campaigns against Americans.
During this period, the federal government acted more like an authoritarian dictatorship than a constitutional democracy. The government violated civil rights with impunity.
Adding “In God We Trust” to the US currency was an act of religious and political propaganda, allegedly to counter the threat of “godless communism.”
*snip*
The word “God” is 100% religious and exclusively sectarian with respect to the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The word “We” implies a statement that is inclusive of all citizens, yet millions of Americans do not “Trust In God.” The word “God” is in fact nonsense to more than 30 million atheist citizens.
By refusing to remove “In God We Trust” from currency and repeal the religious motto, the government continues to act in paranoid fits as it did in the 1950s.
Kahle is right on the money (pardon the pun)! Endorsement of any religion does not belong on our Federal currency. He goes on to urge folks to FIGHT BACK BY SPENDING YOUR GODLESS MONEY
For more than 10 years, I have spent only Godless dollars. Using a red pen or stamp, I mark a circle and slash over the word “God” (as pictured above) on every bill that passes my way. When I make a withdrawal from the bank ATM, I immediately “de-God” each of the crisp new $20s. When I spend the $20s, and receive $1s, $5s, or $10s in change, I “de-God” each bill before passing it along. No merchant or business has ever refused to accept this “godless” money.
I probably spend at least fifty “godless” bills per week. That adds up to more than 2,500 “godless” bills per year.
Assuming that each dollar bill changes hands at least 20 times in the life of the bill, I estimate that my “godless” money passes through at least 50,000 people per year. In the past 10 years, I have thus circulated enough “”godless” money to reach a half-million people.
I’m not the only person to “de-God” money. I have many friends who have adopted this practice, thus we are reaching countless millions of people with “godless” money. In fact, thousands of atheist citizens de-God their money on a regular basis, potentially reaching every American with our “godless” money.
If you believe in “God”, you may be interested to know that “godless” money spends just as well as the “In God We Trust” variety. One would think, if there actually is an “Almighty God,” that “godless” money would “miraculously” drop in value. Or those godless bills would not work in vending machines. Guess what? They spend just as well.
Is it legal? YES! It is perfectly legal to “de-God” your money.
UNITED STATES CODE, TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 17 – COINS AND CURRENCY
“Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”
Simply marking a red circle and slash over the word “God” does not constitute “intent to render [the bill] unfit to be reissued.” As evidenced above, the “godless” bills spend just was well as the religious denominations (pun intended
.
Now to go buy a red ink pen. 
6 November 2009, on 3:59 pm
Yeah, Stardust…I sorta stumbled onto that Site whilst Googling for more info in making a comment on Austin Cline’s Site RE the outrageous “Under God” stupidity in both the “Pledge” and on our currency, that was slipped in ca. 1956/57.
Kahle, I think, really lays all the facts out quite succinctly as to just how much outrageous bullshit was being foisted on the American public in the Eisenhower era. People weren’t really paying enough attention to a lot of it. Not surprising, considering all the anti-communist propaganda, religion numbing, and the McCarthyism which was still in progress. I know I was still under the yoke of my Cat-o-lick brainwashed upbringing; and don’t remember really thinking much about it, or even NOTICING it.
Thanks, Star, for posting, by the way.
So far, I haven’t been able to find a ready-made stamp like the one Kahle uses. Of course, one could certainly be special ordered…tee-hee!
But Wait!…getting caught with that stamp would be much more…erm…
incriminating?
Sooooo…a red pen will do just “fine and dandy”! (fine and handy?)
6 November 2009, on 7:21 pm
Or everyone can just get debit cards. No god on debit cards. It truly is secular money.
6 November 2009, on 9:18 pm
If your going to buy a stamp, might as well buy one with Darwin on it. This would hit two birds with one stone. I don’t know if that would be legal?
6 November 2009, on 11:57 pm
I like to change the G in GOD to a g. Making it read, IN gOD WE TRUST. Probably goes above their heads.
7 November 2009, on 12:02 am
AUM?…as Kahle says on the linked page:
“Most financial transactions in the United States are in fact conducted with “godless” money — personal and business checks, credit cards, wire transfers, bank credits and debits, stocks, bonds, and the like. In fact, billions, perhaps trillions, in “godless” money changes hands every day.”
Personally, I no longer have any credit cards; but I do have a “godless” debit card, which is also handy for getting “cash back” on certain occasions. On the Internet, paypal is my usual choice, with the debit card being a ‘backup’ option when paypal isn’t available.
We’ve covered and debated the subject, here on GifS, more than once regarding the whole “under God” Pledge & money bullshit; and here’s something Kahle pointed out on that same page which reminded me of just HOW complicit the Courts are in maintaining the outrageous stupidity:
“In the early 1990s, the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit to remove “In God We Trust” from currency and as our national motto, but their case was dismissed by a federal judge on the grounds that “In God We Trust” is not a religious phrase. If “In God We Trust” is not a religious phrase, what is it? Of course the judge did not attempt to justify his absurd claim.”
Unfortunately, there’s probably a “snowball’s chance” in…the non-existent hell?…that anything’s gonna change on that. With all the “Tea Bagger” and gun loving fucktards, etc., I’m guessing, nobody’s gonna want to touch that issue again, anytime soon.
So…What!…
“Quel dommage”?
By the way…
Kahle, is very active in Hawaii’s efforts RE Separation of Church and State. Here’s Kahle’s Hawaii page, loaded with various links:
http://lava.net/~hcssc/
I did notice, however, at the bottom of the page, that the last copyright is dated 2004; so it may be that he’s not too active at present…?
Anthony?…
Regarding the Darwin stamp; that’d be great…IF…you can get one in a very small format…? Special order? Again, the red pen is probably the safest bet…legally. Plus, you don’t need any stamp pad or EXTRA ink!
Now, after all that, I’m remembering the atheist’s “Darwin Sticker Kit” idea (also covered, way back on GifS)…
for things like…adding little legs to fundie’s Jeebus Fish (How Piscean!) bumper stickers.
However, these days, doing something like that, you just might have to be ‘packing’ extra hardware…yeah…like carrying a gun!
Yada, zama!
7 November 2009, on 12:10 am
“If you believe in “God”, you may be interested to know that “godless” money spends just as well as the “In God We Trust” variety.”
If this is saying what I believe it’s saying, I just got suckered the other day! I was told the exchange rate of godly money to godless curency was .8 to 1.0, meaning I exchanged $100 of my hard earned holy money for a mere $80 of the heathen variety! I was taken and by a xtian no less, who said he had no use for the atheist cash, but was willing to sell it to me, a lost soul, at what he said, was a “steal.” Yeah, a steal alright: for him!
What’s the world coming to when even xtians aren’t honest?
7 November 2009, on 10:17 am
What’s the world coming to when even xtians aren’t honest?
But Fritzy, Xians aren’t honest. They lie to themselves every day!
7 November 2009, on 10:01 pm
QED or quantum electrodynamics is the most successful, believable and accurate scientific theory that has ever been. We may not like it; think it’s crazy, but we cannot deny that it works….that the world does operate in this way. In Richard Feynman’s words, “nearly all the vast apparent variety in Nature results from the monotony of repeatedly changing just these three basic actions, the movement of a photon from one place to another, the movement of an electron from one place to another and the interaction of an electron with a photon.” Without it I wouldn’t be able to do what I am doing now. In comparison, “In God We Trust” doesn’t compare by any measure with QED. I suggest that we advocate for legislation to replace “In God We Trust” with “In QED We Trust” since the former just doesn’t seem to be doing anything in our favor and the latter is a miracle and works 100% of the time.
8 November 2009, on 12:32 am
Anthony:
QED is also the abbreviation for ‘Quod Erat Demonstrandum’, so that works on 2 levels.
Just plain ‘QED’ would be sufficient. Then again, conspiracy nutters would be reading all sorts of nonsense into it.
No help for that, I think.
7 December 2009, on 7:28 pm
point of order. Wheat Pennies and Morgan silver dollars, both issued and long before Ike, had the in god we trust crap. The easiest proof is look at the 1944 steel penny. Yup, in god we trust (For the record, Ike was the theater general responsible for the D-Day invasion that year, not POTUS yet). In fact, the penny design was pretty much set in stone in the depression, only the obverse changing where the wheat changed to the lincoln memorial (in god we trust is on the “heads” of the penny). If you’re willing to look at the Morgans, do so. Morgan silver dollars were not issued in more than a century, yet sure as hell, in god we trust. You’re doing no favors to “the cause” by pushing out inaccurate information.
7 December 2009, on 9:21 pm
Someone mentioning the word “God?” I am a “Xian” as you put it and I do not lie to myself, I do not impose my views on you and I do not necessarily agree with the government. But my way of life is better than most atheists. Why? Because I have purpose and hope, two things atheists are missing.
If you are a true atheist, then you will not say Merry Christmas (using the name of Christ). You will not use a 7 day week (Genesis). You will not write 2009 for the year (it is, afterall, A.D. Any clue what that means?) If I wanted to, I could view you as hypocrites if you do.
Now, Merry Christmas. And try to look beyond yourself next time.
7 December 2009, on 10:29 pm
We watchdog the delusional so that we don’t find ourselves in a theocracy one day, in a country run by a bunch of superstitious dumbasses.
People who can’t keep their imaginary friend out of our secular government.
You lie to yourself every single day.
You have done so by coming to our blog and spewing out your imagined superiority that you know better than we do. So, you lie again.
Your life is better because you lie to yourself and imagine your life is superior?
How do you know we do not have purpose and hope? Our purpose is what we make it to be, our lives guided by ourselves and other humans whom we trust and turn to for wisdom and knowledge. We have hope in the goodness of humankind and in each other. The god of your Bible doesn’t exist, and it’s a good thing because he is a sadistic, hateful, child-killing, jealous monster.
Most of us don’t. And if you were a true Christian you would not say it either because Christmas is acutally stolen from the Roman god Mithras whose birthday is December 25th and the traditions of the tree, lights etc are all stolen from Pagan origins. Your own Bible warns of having trees decorated with silver and gold, etc. You know nothing about your own mythology.
Christians do not have the monopoly of the 7 day week and was not originating with the Christians.
From a quick Wiki Search:
All early cultures were exposed to the night sky. The seven celestial objects that are visible to the naked eye and moved in a way that clearly indicated they were not stars were hence known as “planets,” or “wandering stars,” in the ancient world, and they worked their way into the myths and legends of most early cultures. Time was and still is easily measured by celestial events; the spring equinox for example, occurs approximately every 365 days. It was easy to adapt the other 7 objects clearly seen floating about in the sky to measure the passage of time. The Sun, Moon and five visible planets gave their names to the weekly cycle of days.
The modern world operates using CE and BCE nowadays. Any clue about what THAT means? We no longer use B.C and A.D
Christians and god believers are the biggest hypocrites. The only reason you believe is because you are trying to find a way to cheat the unavoidable…your death…even if you have to do it in an imaginary way.
And maybe one day you will give up that imaginary friend of yours, look beyond your own desires and fantasies and get real.
9 December 2009, on 3:11 am
“I do not impose my views on you…”
Many people in this country who call them selves “Xtians,” as we put it, do exactly that. Gays are hated, discriminated against and killed in the name of your god. Atheists are chastised and threatened with physical violence by many of your bretheren. A black person could not marry a white person in my home state of NE until 1973–and many of the good xtian folk quoted your very bible as justification for the prevention of this “racial pollution.” And there is a small but increasingly vocal minority, known as the dominionists, who would love very much to impose their very brand of xtianity (psychosis as we put it) on everyone. So we’re not so concerned about you–but then, this blog isn’t just about you.
“But my way of life is better than most atheists.”
How can you even say that? Do you know “most atheists?” I’m an atheist, and I only know a handful of other atheists. And please, operationalize the term “better.”
“Why? Because I have purpose and hope, two things atheists are missing.”
Why? Because you have an imaginary friend. You’ll also have to prove to me that “purpose” and “hope” make your way of life better than someone without those things. Personally, I don’t know about purpose, but I do have hope…that one day xtians such as yourself will finally stop with that tired, spurious cannard.
“If you are a true atheist, then you will not say Merry Christmas (using the name of Christ).”
Fuck you–I’ll say what ever the hell I please. I love Christmas and wish everyone I see a “Merry Goddamned Christmas.” That certainly doesn’t make me any less of an atheist. I don’t celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jay-zus (as Stardust pointed out, Christmas is not really the celebration of the birth of Jesus) any more than I celebrate St Patty’s day as the day St Patrick drove the Jews (yes, the Jews, not the rats) out of Ireland. Believe me, I’ll tip back a few Guinesses on St Patty’s day anyway.
“You will not use a 7 day week (Genesis).”
You mean Monday, named after the moon, Tuesday, named after Tyr, the norse god of war, Wednesday, named after the English god Woden, Thursday, named after the Norse god Thor, Friday named after the Germanic god Freja, Saturday, named for the Roman god Saturn, and Sunday, day of the Sun. If you are a true Xtain, you will not blaspheme by glorify the names of “false gods” in signifying the days of the week.
“You will not write 2009 for the year (it is, afterall, A.D. Any clue what that means?)”
Believe me, I tried, but none of my creditors would accept checks dated “The year of our Fritzy, 0037.”
BTW, I kinda wonder if you have any clue what A.D. stands for–hint: It’s not “after death.”
“If I wanted to, I could view you as hypocrites if you do.”
You can view me any goddamned way you want–you don’t know me so frankly I don’t give a fuck. Obsessively confirming to yourself that your imaginary friend exists doesn’t make your logic any more sound or your view of me any more valid.
“And try to look beyond yourself next time.”
Oh yeah, that’s right, because all of us atheists are selfish too, right? Of course, as we covered earlier, evidently you know “most atheists,” so who am I to argue with the authority on the topic.
13 December 2009, on 6:39 pm
god-damn spot on Fritzy, delta is obviously a self absorbed, uninformed, ghost chasing fucking moron. probably wet his fucking bed until he was 12 and believed in santa claus and the fuckin easter bunny till his 20’s.
anybody who claims to have something that others dont because of his belief in god or others dis-belief needs to take his foot out of his ass and put it in his mouth where it belongs.