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<div class="MsoNormal"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">In what do we trust?</font></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>In God we Trust </i><span style="vertical-align:baseline">is a phrase adopted as the official motto of
the United States in 1956 to replace the unofficial one <i>E pluribus unum </i>(“Out of many, one”), which has been in the United
States seal since 1782. “In God do we
trust” is a phrase in the fourth stanza of the poem from where the lyrics of
the national anthem Star-Spangled Banner came from. It appeared in coins in 1864 and in paper
currency since 1957. It is the motto of
Florida. It’s Spanish equivalent, <i>En Dios Confiamos, </i>is the motto of
Nicaragua.</span></font></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Its
appearance in US coins was a political move, to indicate that God was on the
side of the Union in its minted coins vs. the Confederacy. It’s ascendancy into common usage since 1956
stemmed from the Cold War when President Eisenhower signed a law to incorporate
“nation under God” to the pledge of allegiance to distinguish the United States
from the atheist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Historically, the phrase was incorporated
into the nation’s set of metaphors, not out of theological acumen but for
political reasons.</font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">The
word G-O-D is the English translation of the German “Gott”, which means,
good. The word made it to the Judeo-Christian
sense of the supreme, of “what is” rather than “what had been, what we presently
feel and think, or what we hope for”.
YHWH, the “I am who I am”, or “that of which there is no other” of the
Levant, focused on reality rather than the illusion of a mirage in the desert,
makes for effective authentic living. </font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">“That
which is totally other, a no-thing” came as Islam’s anti-idolatry against the
icons of Judaism and Christianity. The
no-thing in Arabic is Allah. So, in
Jewish-Christian tradition, God is the all powerful and almighty that is a mystery. In Islam, where icons of anything are reduced
to nothing, Allah is what we know only too well, the nothing that reduces
everything into an illusion. Allah is
the No-Thing. </font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Secularist
are saying that the word “God” is too closely associated with specific
religious traditions that to have it officially in the documents of political
union that wrote into its constitution the separation of church and state,
would be well to excise the word lest its presence indicates official favor of
one tradition over and against another.
Having it in public documents, tablets, monuments, <i>et al,</i> is clearly unconstitutional.
In Malaysia, the Muslims are insisting that only Islam is entitled to
the word “Allah” and Christians must not use it as a translation for the word
“God”. They have a point, if they would only
just divorce it from partisan politics. The
<i>Tao </i>that cannot be named,<i> </i>and the enigmatic but breath-captivating
<i>OM</i> best experienced when simultaneously
inhaled and exhaled, do not have limit problems. But the word “God” is inappropriate to translate
either for <i>Tao </i>or <i>Om</i>.</font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">The
presence of the word in the phrase “In God we trust” is currently a hot
issue. A dear friend was up in arms when
it was suggested that “God” should be removed from official usage and its use
be at the discretion of individual citizens.
She believes fervently that her biblical God called America to be the
New Israel.</font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Tom
DeLay (R-Texas), former Majority Floor Leader of the US Congress House of
Representatives, and erstwhile friend to Saipan’s once flourishing garment
industry, plays in the same ballpark.
Recently, our fleet-footed (he danced on TV after he resigned from
Congress) rep stated that God wrote the US Constitution. This was not an unusual claim in Texas where
I went to school, since God as <i>deus ex
machina </i>is the prevailing image of efficient and effective deity, but
hardly is it a metaphor we expect to hear as a responsible claim.</font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Recently,
George Zimmerman of the Martin Trayvon homicide fame claimed that he answered
only to God. He claims further that his
shooting of Martin was the will of God!
Damn.</font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">God
has not been put on a good light of late.
But it is the element of trust that is of interest to us because not too
many outside of American theocracy (well, that may not be accurate since in my
lifetime, 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 a
valid question as the nations of the world tighten their sovereign boundaries
and straighten their economic houses in order.</font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Japanese PM Shinzo Abe
interviewed in Davos, Switzerland at a G-20 meeting said that China’s economic
ascendancy is built on trust, not tension.
We could not agree more. So why
does he keep rattling Nippon’s saber? It
is not as if we do not have a record of who has been belligerent outside its
borders in the last 100 years. Or, why
does the US keep insisting on parading its military muscle vis-à-vis the
shivered up economy of NoKor? SoKor’s
military might is 10 times stronger than that of its northern kin, and we
insist on calling the joint exercises a defensive move? No wonder NoKor insists on having nuclear
capabilities!</font></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="vertical-align:baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Right on, Shinzo
Abe. But please start heeding your own
advice.</font></span></div>
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<br>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 18px; clear: both;"><i>j'aime la vie</i><br>
<a href="mailto:pinoypanda2031@aol.com">pinoypanda2031@aol.com</a><br>
<div><i>yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!</i></div>
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