[Oe List ...] Thursday March 27 for ST from Jaime

[wangzhimu2031 at aol.com]

In what do we trust?
                                      
In God we Trust is a phrase adopted as the official motto ofthe United States in 1956 to replace the unofficial one E pluribus unum (“Out of many, one”), which has been in the UnitedStates seal since 1782.  “In God do wetrust” is a phrase in the fourth stanza of the poem from where the lyrics ofthe national anthem Star-Spangled Banner came from.   It appeared in coins in 1864 and in papercurrency since 1957.  It is the motto ofFlorida.  It’s Spanish equivalent, En Dios Confiamos, is the motto ofNicaragua.
 
Itsappearance in US coins was a political move, to indicate that God was on theside of the Union in its minted coins vs. the Confederacy.  It’s ascendancy into common usage since 1956stemmed from the Cold War when President Eisenhower signed a law to incorporate“nation under God” to the pledge of allegiance to distinguish the United Statesfrom the atheist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  Historically, the phrase was incorporatedinto the nation’s set of metaphors, not out of theological acumen but forpolitical reasons.
 
Theword G-O-D is the English translation of the German “Gott”, which means,good.  The word made it to the Judeo-Christiansense of the supreme, of “what is” rather than “what had been, what we presentlyfeel and think, or what we hope for”. YHWH, the “I am who I am”, or “that of which there is no other” of theLevant, focused on reality rather than the illusion of a mirage in the desert,makes for effective authentic living.  
 
“Thatwhich is totally other, a no-thing” came as Islam’s anti-idolatry against theicons of Judaism and Christianity.  Theno-thing in Arabic is Allah.  So, inJewish-Christian tradition, God is the all powerful and almighty that is a mystery.  In Islam, where icons of anything are reducedto nothing, Allah is what we know only too well, the nothing that reduceseverything into an illusion.  Allah isthe No-Thing.  
 
Secularistare saying that the word “God” is too closely associated with specificreligious traditions that to have it officially in the documents of politicalunion that wrote into its constitution the separation of church and state,would be well to excise the word lest its presence indicates official favor ofone tradition over and against another.  Having it in public documents, tablets, monuments, et al, is clearly unconstitutional. In Malaysia, the Muslims are insisting that only Islam is entitled tothe word “Allah” and Christians must not use it as a translation for the word“God”.  They have a point, if they would onlyjust divorce it from partisan politics.  TheTao that cannot be named, and the enigmatic but breath-captivatingOM best experienced when simultaneouslyinhaled and exhaled, do not have limit problems.  But the word “God” is inappropriate to translateeither for Tao or Om.
 
Thepresence of the word in the phrase “In God we trust” is currently a hotissue.  A dear friend was up in arms whenit was suggested that “God” should be removed from official usage and its usebe at the discretion of individual citizens. She believes fervently that her biblical God called America to be theNew Israel.
 
TomDeLay (R-Texas), former Majority Floor Leader of the US Congress House ofRepresentatives, and erstwhile friend to Saipan’s once flourishing garmentindustry, plays in the same ballpark. Recently, our fleet-footed (he danced on TV after he resigned fromCongress) rep stated that God wrote the US Constitution.  This was not an unusual claim in Texas whereI went to school, since God as deus exmachina is the prevailing image of efficient and effective deity, buthardly is it a metaphor we expect to hear as a responsible claim.
 
Recently,George Zimmerman of the Martin Trayvon homicide fame claimed that he answeredonly to God.  He claims further that hisshooting of Martin was the will of God! Damn.
 
Godhas not been put on a good light of late. But it is the element of trust that is of interest to us because not toomany outside of American theocracy (well, that may not be accurate since in mylifetime, there has not been any naïve God-worshiping President of the Union)would glibly repeat the “In God we trust” motto.  However, “in what shall we trust?” remains avalid question as the nations of the world tighten their sovereign boundariesand straighten their economic houses in order.
 
Japanese PM Shinzo Abeinterviewed in Davos, Switzerland at a G-20 meeting said that China’s economicascendancy is built on trust, not tension. We could not agree more.  So whydoes he keep rattling Nippon’s saber?  Itis not as if we do not have a record of who has been belligerent outside itsborders in the last 100 years.  Or, whydoes the US keep insisting on parading its military muscle vis-à-vis theshivered up economy of NoKor?  SoKor’smilitary might is 10 times stronger than that of its northern kin, and weinsist on calling the joint exercises a defensive move?  No wonder NoKor insists on having nuclearcapabilities!
 
Right on, ShinzoAbe.  But please start heeding your ownadvice.
 


j'aime la vie
pinoypanda2031 at aol.com

yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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