Today, the 112th Congress will be voting on one of the most important bills it could possibly consider. If approved, this bill will drastically improve the economy and job situation we’re currently fac—-wait, what? No? Strike all that.

H. Con. Res. 13 seeks to reaffirm “In God We Trust” as the official motto of the United States.

Begin *facepalming* now.

This is what Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) thinks is a good use of time.

Whereas John Adams said, ‘Statesmen may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.’; Whereas if religion and morality are taken out of the marketplace of ideas, the very freedom on which the United States was founded cannot be secured; Whereas as President Eisenhower said and President Ford later repeated, ‘Without God, there could be no American form of government, nor, an American way of life.’; and Whereas President John F. Kennedy said, ‘The guiding principle and prayer of this Nation has been, is now, and ever shall be ‘In God We Trust.’: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress reaffirms ‘In God We Trust’ as the official motto of the United States and supports and encourages the public display of the national motto in all public buildings, public schools, and other government institutions.

According to the Secular Coalition for America, this is a pointless bill that takes the focus off of what’s really important (and if you go to their site, you can let your own representatives know how you feel about that):

“In God We Trust” is already the official motto of the United States, and in raising this as an issue yet again, Republicans in the House are throwing a red herring to inflame culture wars and draw the focus off of fixing the economy. The resolution, sponsored by Representative Randy Forbes (R-VA), does nothing more than waste precious time and money on symbolic religious issues that divide rather than unite Americans in a time of universal economic struggle.

Bingo. When Forbes isn’t being an obstructionist, he’s just wasting time.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats in their March dissent against the measure argued that the national motto “is not imperiled in any respect” and charged that the panel’s Republicans were “diverting the committee’s time, resources and attention to a measure that has no force of law, only reaffirms existing law and further injects the hand of government into the private religious lives of the American people.”

Interestingly enough, this is the same Republican-dominated House that passed new rules specifically to stop “symbolic and commemorative resolutions.”

Isn’t this just one of those symbolic gestures?

Asked Monday whether the “In God We Trust” resolution would be considered such a symbolic resolution, a spokesman for [House Majority Leader Eric] Cantor declined to comment.

So to those of you sitting around at home, jobless, because the economy is in the crapper, remember that our country trusts in god and I’m sure you’ll feel all better.



