PROTESTER SCRATCHES 'IN GOD WE TRUST' OFF COINS

I turned on my engraver, and I scratched a bit of metal And repeated this procedure many times Now I’m looking at a little pile of atheistic money— Godless nickels, godless quarters, godless dimes If you want a godless penny, I’ve got some, but not too many And I don’t have any dollar coins so far Now you might well find it funny, scratching “God” off all my money But you know? I like them better as they are.

So I saw the “atheists are hypocrites if they spend money, cos it says ‘In God We Trust’ on it” argument one too many times. And I’ve decided that from now on, whenever I see that argument made, I’m going to de-god another big batch of coins. I already have a marker I use on bills, but paper money only stays in circulation for maybe a couple of years, whereas coins stick around for decades. And yes, I just got done de-godding a big batch this morning, while waiting for a battery to charge so I could do my next task.

I’ve also decided that any and all donations to this site (there’s a donate button down there on the right) will be converted to coins and de-godded. Then comes the fun part–getting them into circulation. Coins tend to stick around in mason jars or cracked mugs until you get fed up and decide to roll them up and bring them to the bank–or worse, to a coin-star machine (why would anyone use those?). Godless money, on the other hand, I am very motivated to get into circulation. So I’ll be an atheist benefactor, topping off parking meters, pre-loading washing machines at the local laundromats (hey, people who use laundromats are generally people who could use some help–I remember those days well), throwing a handful of quarters into the buskers’ guitar cases, loading up the UNICEF boxes at halloween… and, yes, spending them myself–I’m only a part-time altruist; I do need to eat. But now, each quarter (or, if any of you are extremely generous, I’ll have the chance to wear out my engraver on some dollar coins!) spent will have two purposes–helping a particular individual, and spreading godless money.

Does this seem a tad obsessive? Not at all; it is the tiniest fraction of the effort used to put God on all that money in the first place. You want obsessive, try looking at the members of Congress who continue to affirm a motto that is in no danger of ever being recognized as the violation of the first amendment that it is. If this is simply ceremonial deism, then I am doing precisely nothing to these coins.

To read the complete articles, see:
Ceremonial De-Deism (freethoughtblogs.com/cuttlefish/2012/09/27/ceremonial-de-deism/)
Atheists Sue U.S. Government to Take ‘In God We Trust’ Off Our Money (www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/03/12/atheists-sue-u-s-government-to-take-in-god-we-trust-off-our-money/)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web