Proof that religious wording isn't "secular" or "benign"
Public religiosity rarely brings a pluralistic society together
Published on April 21, 2011
When nonreligious Americans object to the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, or to "In God We Trust" as the national motto, we often hear opponents claim that the wording is harmless, secular in purpose, and that nobody interprets the words as being a religious affirmation of any kind. Sometimes the excuse given is that such wording merely "acknowledges the nation's religious heritage."
Of course, just about every society has some kind of religious heritage, but even if we find it desirable to "acknowledge" America's religious heritage one could question why we must do so by affirmatively stating that God actually exists. After all, America also has a strong secular heritage - many of our founders were quite anti-clerical, some rejected Christianity and supernatural religion outright, and certainly many of them were far outside the framework of traditional religion. Thus, would we "acknowledge" that secular heritage by affirming in our national Pledge and motto that there is no God
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It should be no surprise that to most people affirmative statements of religious truth - such as "In God We Trust" and the unambiguous claim that we are a nation "under God - are not secular and are not mere acknowledgements of heritage. They are religious truth claims that make outsiders of all who disagree, that necessarily slant government and public policy away from the outsiders and toward those who promote the affirmations.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-humanity-naturally/201104/proof-religious-wording-isnt-secular-or-benign