Wednesday, April 11, 2012

E Pluribus Unum




E pluribus unum
Latin for "Out of many, one"—is a phrase on the Seal of the United States, along with Annuit cœptis and Novus ordo seclorum, and adopted by an Act of Congress in 1782. Never codified by law, E pluribus unum was considered a de facto motto of the United States until 1956 when the United States Congress passed an act (H.J. Resolution 396), adopting "In God We Trust" as the official motto.

In God We Trust has appeared sporadically on U.S. coins since 1864 and on paper currency since 1957. How did we survive the 100 years before? Why didn't Washington and Adams insist on making that our motto instead? Maybe lot of Unitarian, Episcopal and Deists saw the mess that Christianity did to Europe? Maybe fundamentalist was viewed as simply wrong.

The Right is re-"righting" history since 1956. We were in no sense a Christian nation per the Treaty Of Tripoli. We were secular allowing for all beliefs, even atheism. We were united in spite of and also because of our differences. That is what our forefathers created and guess who is trying hard to take that away. They love themselves some more Dark Ages.


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