Monday, February 23, 2009

In God We Trust?

Tonight at City Council, I as always advocated for business. We acknowledged fires, 25 years of service for a pastor, the Girl Scout troops (and a center for Girl Scouts which had a $1 a year lease renewed for 10 years), the Tennis Center operator and a MADD award for a police officer with many drunk driving arrests. All wonderful things, but nothing was said of the concerns I brought up about the business community. Again.

The thing which actually was commented on most by the public was the potential addition of the phrase "In God We Trust" to Council chambers. Of six speakers, only one was in favor of the proposal, 4 against and two opted not to comment (myself included - though I feel quite strongly opposed to it). Amazingly, the Council seemed to ignore public comment and passed it 5 to 0. I was shocked. Then I reflected, should I really be shocked? We live in a society which likes to acknowledge "safe" things - Girl Scouts, the response of the Fire Department and arrests of drunks, but to really examine the foundations of what our City is based on, our elected officials just blithely prosteletize about how "wonderful and appropriate" the motto is. Why do we live in a culture where the baby-boomer feels that as long as they "bless" it, it must be good?

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