I’ve gotten in more than one argument with coworkers and family members alike concerning the whole “In God We Trust” thingy on our currency. The disagreement really boils down to whether the United States is a Christian nation or not. We are a nation with Christians but we are not a Christian nation. “In God We Trust” on a dollar bill or a quarter does constitute a confession of the Triune God. Our Lord has not promised to be with us in the form of stamped or printed currency but rather in His preached Word and his Sacraments. Our currency may offer lip service to a god of our many understandings but the coin is still Caesars. You know where this is going now, don’t you?
The Obama team extended an invitation to openly gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson to give the opening invocation of inauguration week. With Bishop Robinson so horrified by the previous inaugural prayers as "specifically and aggressively Christian”, he decided to pray to a generic “God of Our Many Understandings” at President elect’s Obama inaugural ceremony so as to not cause offense. Isn’t that special? (that last line was written in the voice of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady for my missus, just so you know)
I really don’t care that an apostate bishop has created a generic for himself to pray to just as I wasn’t upset last year when a few dollar coins escaped the minting process without getting “In God We Trust” stamped on the edges. All that bothers me is that so many are taking Robinson’s lead and abandoning our Lord who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ for a god who offends no one and offers nothing.
In a city filled with monuments, I can’t help but wonder, how long is it before a statue is erected to this unknown god so we can see who it is that Robinson and our currency honor.
Interesting post. Does it matter to God whether or not we put his name on our currency? Nope. God is not depending on us for anything (which is good because we'd screw it all up).
ReplyDeleteBut it DOES say something about our nation when we keep those four little controversial words on our money. To me, it goes back to the difference between the American Revolution and the French Revolution. It's a very interesting study.
BD, I guess my reaction is a counter reaction to those who think that this is a Christian nation started by Christians. Yes there were Christians present for the founding of the country but there a heck of a lot of theists who would be happy with a generic god.
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