OK people I'm tired of this and I need help on how to respond.............

[Minnesota Libra]

....I am a friend that sends me this stuff all the time. This particular email was entitled "My Sis asked me to send this and I agree totally". There is of course a big pick up with an American flag on it and then this message.

I would like to respond in such a way as to not destroy a friendship but yet at the same time inform them that "In God We Trust" was not always on our money. I'd also like to be able to say something about how I don't like having someone else's idea of religion shoved down my throat in order to prove how much of a "proud American" I am.

So please help me figure out a nice way of going about this. Keep in mind I couldn't care less about the sister's feelings but the woman that sent me this is a nice friend so I don't want to ruin that friendship. I simply want to make her and her sister think.

"hi:Thanks everyone for your help."grouphug:



I'm proud to send this one - and I wholeheartedly agree

I'm proud to send this one


I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

I was asked to send this on if I agree or delete if I don't. It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having "In God! We Trust" on our money and having "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
If you agree, pass this on, if not delete.

I AGREE !!!!


"God Bless America."


Am editing this to see if you all think this will do for a reply. Thanks to those of you who knowingly or unknowingly helped me with this too.:loveya: This is a combination of two ideas that appear below.:applause:

It’s funny you should send me this. Some one else sent me a different email the other day stating that the Pledge of Allegiance didn't say "one nation under god" until 1954. And that "in god we trust" wasn't even put on paper money until 1957. Is that true? Have you ever heard of that? Did someone remove it in the past? What the heck?? This email went on to claim that all this grew out of the McCarthy days when a person had to prove they weren’t a communist just as today a person has to prove they are “American enough” by professing faith in God. Do you know anything about all this? Getting both of these emails in such a short time makes me wonder if someone is trying to tell me we are going back to the McCarthy days?????

[fooj]

1. Send her a copy of the US Constitution.

include this...

If you agree, pass this on, if not delete.

Peace.

[silverweb]

3. I like it!

:D

[havocmom]

2. Why bother? If some can't accept the fact that the phrase was added

to the pledge during the hay-day of Joe McCarthy, they aren't gonna hear ANYTHING you say.

Instead of beating your head against a brick wall, stop worrying about it and work toward the goal of exposing election fraud and cleaning up elections so we can get rid of the crooks who prey on such delusional people. Ignore the pointless battles and work on the one that matters.

[Minnesota Libra]

12. the reference to McCarthy and then a comparison to today..........

....would be great - thanks.

[bain_sidhe]

4. This has been going around a while... my responses...

My first response was, well, less than gentle (but please note, I got the email the day after the election. I was a little raw.):

Those are my only choices, huh? Gee, America used to be a free country - but don't worry, I see that the religious fascists are doing their best to stop that nonsense, so it won't be for long.

Ok, I'll sit down and shut up now. It's your country. Hope you enjoy it.

Please take me off your distribution list.

After she wrote back though, I think I came closer to what you're looking for:

The question isn't whether I believe in God, the question is whether I believe the government should *require* me - or, more importantly, anybody else - to believe in God. And I don't believe that it should. This kind of "sit down and shut up" attitude is far too common (in my opinion, of course) in this country these days. I hate to see those who follow a religion that preaches peace and love for our fellow human beings to buy into that attitude.

Of course, it was a bad day for me to get it, since my guy lost the election :( so maybe my emotions were a little raw, too. I see this "sit down and shut up" attitude from Bush all the time, whenever somebody disagrees with his policies. In my view, that's not what this country is all about. America was *founded* on dissent, after all. What's the Declaration of Independence all about, if not a statement of dissent with the ruler???

Anyway, I'm sorry I snapped at you. But, really I hope you'll think about the idea that just because Christians are a majority doesn't mean that it's not ok for others to follow their own path. You might disagree with their path, but (again, in my opinion) it's not right to disrepect their right to follow it.

[Kashka-Kat]

7. good for you for keeping the communication going

I wonder how many family members & friends arent speaking anymore-- its happened in my family.

[Minnesota Libra]

11. I like your second response - that says it for me. nt

[GrumpyGreg]

5. The guys who fought in WWII did well for themselves and

they didn't have "under God" in the pledge.

I delete all chain E-Mails no matter how harmless they are and who sends them.

[Hamlette]

6. say: just because a majority believes something doesn't make it right."

Our country's greatest strength is that it protects its minorities. It makes us feel good about ourselves, that we don't bully people who are smaller or weaker.

Or at least it makes me feel that way.

To each his own.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Try the oblique method

Don't respond to it directly. Respond with something different -- something that takes the flag away from the phony patriot and puts it back on the flagpole where it belongs.

Send your own stuff. Make it good.

I suggest some of the milder 9/11 or Katrina stuff; pictures of Bush's early years as a cheerleader, his four+ arrests, Laura's vehicular homicide, and the links to his DD214 showing dereliction of duty; the police shenanigans over Cheney's shooting of his "best friend" earlier this year; and any number of wingnut dossiers, like Limbaugh's drug abuse, O'Reilly's foul-mouthed phone sex antics, Ann Coulter's and David Horowitz' twin brain tumors, the Deputy Director of the HHS and his pedo scandal, or Born-Again Christian teen gulags and the many deaths that have taken place and been covered up.

There's plenty of shit from which to choose. Because if someone is going to treat your in-box like a toilet, they deserve a good, educational flush.

--p!

[immoderate]

9. Thank her for including the "delete" option.

There may be many other things that 86% of the population agrees on. Should those things be included on our money?

Maybe 14% of the money should say "Who cares about God!" so that we can be fair.

I would like money to say, "Love they neighbor" or "Be kind to animals." I think that at least 86% of the population would agree with those sentiments. Why shouldn't the money say that?

What has always intrigued me is what the phrase "In God we trust" means. How do you act on that? Cross the street without looking? Eat food that hasn't been inspected? Ride a motorcycle without a helmet? How would we act differently if that phrase wasn't on our money?

--IMM

[femmocrat]

10. I immediately delete all chain emails.

Once you get into the habit, it's easy! No guilt either.

[leftstreet]

13. Just act stupid

"Hey, someone recently told me the Pledge of Allegiance didn't say "one nation under god" until 1954. And that "in god we trust" wasn't even put on paper money until 1957. ???? Is that true? Have you ever heard of that? Did someone remove it in the past? What the heck?????"

It's more fun to imagine them venturing out on the internet and shitting themselves when they get some knowledge.

:silly:

[Minnesota Libra]

14. Hey, this would be good and put what another post suggested.............

.....about all this happening during the McCarthy era. Thanks, this would be really cool.

[Cosby]

15. Some additional thoughts on the 'god' aspect...

From an ltte by my friend Clark Gomez:

"“Under God” September 17, 2005

In an allegiance to the modern state, the issue of inclusion or exclusion of a deity, which identifies that state’s theological underpinnings, whether they are “under” it or “trust” in it, is totally irrelevant. The real question should be, what is the message to its citizenry who have sworn themselves to it?

In the case of the citizenry of an imperialist nation/state such as the USA, it allows them to readily embrace the pernicious hubris and the moral sloth of denial and release from their humanitarian responsibility to vigorously protest the policies of their government which, inevitably, has resulted in the maiming, murder, and genocide of non combatant populations, while engaged in the felonious theft of their resources for the exclusive consumption of the Empire.

It would be instructive to note that during our “Civil War”(before the word genocide was invented), while general Sherman was marching to the sea, and for the first time in modern history, waging war against a civilian population (now referred to as unconditional warfare), by totally destroying the Confederacy’s infrastructure, bringing starvation, pestilence and death to thousands of their citizenry; the inscription “In God We Trust”, first appeared on Union coinage.

Today, the modern model for genocide has been, and is, the US driven “international” embargo upon the Iraqi people, and all the time, while “Under God”."

Clark Gomez

[undeterred]

16. I blocked the "friend" who kept doing that from my email

I'm not suggesting this, just reporting.

She knows we have different views. She sends me crap anyway. I tried doing a reply all which responded and it got me nowhere. She kept sending me crap so I blocked her email. Friends don't send friends crap.

[mzteris]

17. You should also ask her if she knows

that the original Pledge (sans "under God") was written by a (GASP!) Socialist!!!

Ok - he was a "Christian Socialist" - but a Socialist, nonetheless.

[Sawber1001]

18. The trouble with bringing up the money

issue is that she may throw back the "but it's been on US currency since 1862". Of course that's not the same as 1787, but it takes some of the effect out of the 1957 number.

Just a heads up.