Quote:
Originally posted by sgtclub
I think there are several things in play here. I do not agree that government derives authority from God. On the contrary, it derives it's authority from the people. But I also believe it is indisputable that this country was founded on a belief of god, and that recognition of that fact by the government does not trigger Establishment Clause concerns. So "in god we trust" and "one country under god" raises no 1st amendment issues. These instances, however, are quite different from the ten commandments case, in that the latter is based on beliefs held by particular religions rather than a general belief in god.
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My gut agrees that there is a meaningful distinction, but I lack your confidence that it can be consistently drawn, or that the fact that they are distinguishable saves the vague "in god we trust" utterances.
