Dr. Ben Carson Thinks the Phrase “In God We Trust” Means We Live in a Christian Nation October 12, 2015

Dr. Ben Carson Thinks the Phrase “In God We Trust” Means We Live in a Christian Nation

Speaking at a rally in Gainesville, Georgia yesterday, Republican Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson told the audience at Free Chapel church that we live in a Christian nation and he intended to govern that way. Not surprising to hear from him, but his justification needs a lot of work:

“The pledge of allegiance to our flag says we are one nation under God. Many courtrooms in the land on the wall it says ‘In God We Trust.’ Every coin in our pocket, every bill in our wallet says ‘In God We Trust.’

“So if it’s in our founding documents, it’s in our pledges, in our courts and it’s on our money, but we’re not supposed to talk about it, what in the world is that? In medicine it’s called schizophrenia. And I, for one, am simply not willing to kick God to the curb.”

Besides saying adherence to the Establishment Clause is synonymous with “schizophrenia,” Carson doesn’t understand our nation’s history.

The Pledge of Allegiance added the “Under God” bit in 1954.

The move to put “In God We Trust” in our courtrooms is a relatively recent one.

“In God We Trust” was only put on our paper currency in 1957. It was only on the coins in 1864, nearly a century after our nation was founded.

The phrase doesn’t appear at all in our founding documents. It wasn’t even said until the War of 1812, and it wasn’t unofficially adopted as a saying until the Civil War.

Are you sensing a pattern here? We were never a Christian Nation, and we sure as hell aren’t one now. In fact, 30% of Americans are non-Christian.

Carson doesn’t get to dismiss us just because he likes a silly slogan. (You’d think a prominent African-American, of all people, would be among the least likely to point to the wisdom of our nation’s infancy.)

More importantly, no one’s asking Carson to kick God to the curb. That’s just his persecution complex at work. He’s welcome to believe in whatever bullshit he wants — and there’s plenty of it in his mind — but no one running for office should even think about using irrational religious dogma as the basis for public policy. With Carson, you can bet that’s all we’re going to get.

(Image via Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com)

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