Ok, here's the deal. I deface money. I WISH I was creative enough to draw neat faces and turn Lincoln into a Hipster Lincoln....but, I'm not that cool.
No. I deface our currency by marking out 'In God We Trust' on paper money. Believe me, if I could take it off coins easily, I would.
Blogger Hemant Mehta, of the Friendly Atheist, posted a blog post this afternoon on his Facebook page. He has been referencing articles from the past few years. One from 3 years ago was about a person who blacked out our ill-gotten motto then used said currency at a local bakery store in Louisiana. The bakery then gave the defaced currency as change to another customer. The customer who received the 'corrected' currency had a shit-fit online and tried to make others join them in never return to the bakery. This made the bakery have to issue a statement that they had nothing to do with the defacing.
If that made no sense to you here is the story from The Friendly Atheist:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/12/07/when-godless-money-hurts-a-business/
Anywho, I made a comment on the Facebook page saying that I am originally from Louisiana and I've blacked out 'In God We Trust' on currency for years and this may have accidentally been my doing. (I'm almost positive that it wasn't me as I refuse to schlep all the way to Shreveport- bleh) I commented because I wanted to make a small point that taking the quote off the currency should in no way hurt anyone, it's not illegal, and I feel I'm fixing a wrong by doing so.
Some of the comments on the thread are arguing that blackening out the words is 'childish' of us (atheists). One commenter even called me as much and told me to 'grow some cajones and actually do something about it instead of just breaking out my crayons'. I was even told that, by doing this, I'm 'cowardly'.
Really? Cowardly?
Would they rather me get into a banker's face about it? Yell at the cashier at the grocery line for handing me 'religious money'? The hell?
Wanna know what I really do about it? I vote. I petition my congress people about it. I sign petitions. I get off my ass and try to get this motto changed.
I also take a big black Sharpie and cross off the damn words off currency. I don't need to grow balls. I've got brains, asshat.
