E Pluribus Unum by Groff Schroeder: Freethought Views May 2017

E Pluribus Unum

by Groff Schroeder

 

In 1776, Congress directed Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson to design the Great Seal of the United States. Although other committees followed, two of the Franklin committee's design elements appeared on the final seal, the Eye of Providence and the motto "E Pluribus Unum," meaning out of many, one. When Congress adopted America's seal in 1782, the words e pluribus unum celebrated the joining together of America’s people and former colonies into a democratic republic, and symbolized the American People's shared feelings of respect and responsibility to our nation, our Constitution, and our fellow citizens. Seven years later, Congress ratified the Bill of Rights and its First Amendment, the first two clauses declaring, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” E Pluribus Unum was the de facto motto of the United States of America for 174 years.

 

At the height of the cold war, an orchestrated campaign by the Knights of Columbus, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and evangelist Billy Graham sought to contrast the United States with the “godless” Soviet Union. The Act of Congress that followed in 1956 officially established "In God We Trust" as America's motto. At about the same time, the words “under God” were inserted into the pledge of allegiance – between the words “one nation,” and “indivisible.”

 

The capitalized word “God” almost universally describes the monotheistic Abrahamic deity of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Using the word God in America’s motto and on US currency not only appears to violate the First Amendment, but also appears to exclude citizens with non-Abrahamic beliefs (and those without religious beliefs) from the “we” that is implied by E Pluribus Unum – and the "We the People" directly stated in the Preamble to the Constitution. While the Supreme Court has oxymoronically declared the insertion of numerous religious themes into US government to be “ceremonial Deism,” such examples of religion in government clearly contribute to a nation characterized not by indivisible unity and shared principles of duty and responsibility, but by aggravated political and religious division.

 

Other examples of divisive but Supreme Court approved advancements of religion in US government include: the creation and continuous operation of churches in taxpayer-owned buildings, taxpayer supported single-religion prayer in official government contexts, and relentless and sometimes violent attempts to force all Americans to comply with narrow religious mandates prohibiting abortion and birth control. Furthermore, despite its apparent power to divide the American People, Congress passed laws to “re-affirm” In God We Trust as the motto of the United States in 2002, 2006, and 2011.

 

The First Amendment specifically prohibits official US government establishment of religion, and America’s founding documents contain not one mention of any God or gods. Instead, it appears America’s founder’s sought religious freedom for all people, and strongly supported reciprocity (the “golden rule”) and a universal philosophy of shared acceptance, sacrifice, respect, and benefit. Perhaps one day we will overcome our divisions, live up to those who gave their lives for human and civil rights, and restore the morals of equality and religious freedom America's founders' sought to establish with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Maybe then we can once again become E Pluribus Unum - and perhaps restore the historic motto of the United States as well.

 

 

E Pluribus Unum appeared in the May 3, 2017 edition of the Colorado Springs Independent with the quotation below.

"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

John Adams