Did you know?

[This essay was originally posted to "The Third Tale," a blog on Weebly. In transferring it I have updated and made corrections where necessary.]

[This was floating around the internet. It isn't mine; I haven't changed the punctuation, capitalization, or anything. In fact I haven't even verified that it's all true, though I checked to see that the dates are accurate. Still, it's food for thought in these troubled times.]

The original Constitution of the United States that was ratified in 1789 had only one reference to religion: [Article 6] No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

The de facto motto of the United States, adopted as part of the Great Seal of the U.S. by an Act of Congress in 1782 was E. Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One). Congress changed it 174 years later (1956) to “In God We Trust.”

The original ‘Pledge of Allegiance' was written in 1892 by Baptist Minister Francis Bellamy who DID NOT INCLUDE the words “Under God.” Those were added by Congress 62 years later (1954).

The U.S. didn't issue Paper Currency until 1861, and ‘In God We Trust' didn't appear on it for 96 years (1957).

Just after the Red Scare in the 1950′s, CONGRESS CHANGED the Pledge of Allegiance and our Nation's Motto over the FEAR of COMMUNISM.

In a time when fear is traded like a commodity, and the word SOCIALISM is being used to create the same fear as the old word COMMUNISM, let's REMEMBER that our country was NOT founded on fear. NO, OUR NATION was founded out of HOPE for a better world where all people were EQUAL – that we were ONE from MANY.

Let's not let fear change our nation's great tradition & direction again.

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Categories: Spirituality

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