Written by Don Byrd
By now, you have seen news – or one of my blog posts – about the recent proliferation of state legislation mandating or authorizing the posting of “In God We Trust” in public spaces, including in our schools. The bills are the first phase of a plan, called “Project Blitz,” to introduce increasingly controversial religious influences into the public square.
But should we accept even the “In God We Trust” motto so readily? Baptist historian Bill Leonard pens a thoughtful, must-read op-ed for Baptist News Global. Here is an excerpt:
[A]s something of an old-timey Baptist on matters of religious liberty, I would ask several questions of the “In God We Trust” movement:
Is this less an effort to promote religious liberty than a direct attempt to mandate a subtle but dangerous Nuevo Religious Establishment in the public square? Should national religious mottos be government enforced?
While a generic deity may be appropriate for government mottos, is it at all adequate for genuine faith? The ever-insightful historian Martin Marty says that “‘God is a generic term’ is the biggest insult to the God of my faith. God can’t be generic. Or, rather, if (‘God’) is generic, it doesn’t mean anything at all.”
Read the whole thing for a new an thought-provoking perspective on this story.
