I would love for someone to launch a counter claim for separation of church, that church being atheism. The organized atheists are now imposing a religious belief contrary to the historical founding of the country.

“The organized atheists are now imposing a religious belief contrary to the historical founding of the country”
How so? I only see them trying to keep the government neutral, instead of imposing theism. Imposing atheism would mean doing something like carving “gods are myths” on government buildings.

Brian, in all sincerity, I am wondering why you think the words “In God We Trust” is “imposing theism”.

I’m wondering why you think it isn’t; here are various statements:
in god we trust
gods are myths
there is no god but allah
jesus is god
ALL of the above statements are imposing some sort of religious opinion. The government shouldn’t make any of those statements, but if you defend one, what recourse do you have if those in power decide to impose one of the other statements?

the last time I checked 98% of the people in the U.S. had faith in the fact that there is a God. so who are we offending?

Bryan, the statements you’ve added do not answer my question. Imposition to my mind implies punitive action if one does not answer in the affirmative. Unless there is a an “…or else” added to each of those statements, I would not consider any of those statements an imposition even if I may strongly disagree with or be annoyed by them.

“Establishment of a religion” in Europe means collecting taxes from the population in general, and passing funds to a designated church, sect or belief.
Practice in the U.S. that the ACLU dislikes (to the point of suing!) is recognition in some vague way that the majority of Americans believe in God.
They even sued the City of Los Angeles to remove a cross (not a crucifix, simply a cross) from the city seal. Historically, the original name (loosely translated from Spanish) was “The town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula”. “The Angels” in Spanish is “Los Angeles”. And the City seal in current L.A. had incorporated part of the prior seal when California was ruled from Spain.
The effect of such suits is to burden the taxpayers of the defendant town/city with costs of litigation, whether the aggressive atheists win or lose.
Their attempt is to ban religion, or any morality based on religious belief from public life, or from dialog leading to legislation, with emphasis on banning organized Christianity in any form. They don’t seem to apply similar standards to Jewish or Muslim public displays.

“the last time I checked 98% of the people in the U.S. had faith in the fact that there is a God. so who are we offending?”
Offense isn’t the issue.
“Bryan, the statements you’ve added do not answer my question. Imposition to my mind implies punitive action if one does not answer in the affirmative.”
Mere Catlick, Eugene Volokh’s legal blog has, for example, pointed out that US courts often discriminate against the atheist parent in child custody cases. By having the US government promote the idea that belief in god is “good” or “patriotic” also promotes the idea that atheists are NOT “good” or “patriotic.”
“Unless there is a an “…or else” added to each of those statements, I would not consider any of those statements an imposition even if I may strongly disagree with or be annoyed by them.”
Suppose that the US government plastered “gods are myths” over all US currency, US buildings, and had schoolchildren recite “there is no god” in school every morning. And, let’s suppose that a judge just cited your god-belief as a reason to give sole custody to your recently-divorced spouse, who is an atheist. Got a problem with that?
“Practice in the U.S. that the ACLU dislikes (to the point of suing!) is recognition in some vague way that the majority of Americans believe in God.”
The majority of Americans are white. I think if the US government put up official recognition on government buildings that most Americans are white, people (particularly non-whites) would protest.

Brian W your arguments are quite honestly, stupid! No major religion in this country is “imposing” any act of faith on anyone. In fact, it’s even against Canon Law for Catholics to “impose” their faith on anyone, for the simple reason; “faith imposed” is worthless.
What HAS been “imposed” on this country are however much the result of “atheistic and left wing” beliefs. I have no problem with anyone who wants to go that route, but I have a big problem when it’s “imposed”, especially on our kids. Some examples: Barrack Hussain Obama hmm hmmm hmmmm, same sex “marriage” (in certain states), Gay Day in elementary schools (in CA), and the list goes on.
While we are on the subject of imposition Brain, let me tell you what DOES impose, and that would be TRUTH! So let’s just cut to the chase and stop dancing around the obvious. The reason people like you are so afraid of God is for the simple reason, IF TRUE, God self imposes. How dare he, eh?
Do you ever realize how much you give yourself away in your lame arguments? One last question, why aren’t you going after Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, not enough of a threat?

“Brian W your arguments are quite honestly, stupid! No major religion in this country is “imposing” any act of faith on anyone.”
You can’t even appear to read; I’m talking about the GOVERNMENT imposing religion, not a religion imposing religion.
“In fact, it’s even against Canon Law for Catholics to “impose” their faith on anyone, for the simple reason; “faith imposed” is worthless.”
Well, you’d never know that by the reaction to the recent European Court of Human Rights ruling that crucifixes in state schools in Italy are a violation of rights; it seems there are plenty of Catholics in Italy who want the state to impose religion on everyone’s children, including children of families who don’t subscribe to Christianity.
“What HAS been “imposed” on this country are however much the result of “atheistic and left wing” beliefs.”
You’ll notice none of your idiotic examples are examples of the government imposing atheism on people.
Try to come up with something analogous to carving “in god we trust” on government buildings. You haven’t come up with a RELIGIOUS statement by the government that promotes atheism.
“While we are on the subject of imposition Brain, let me tell you what DOES impose, and that would be TRUTH!”
Your idea of “truth” is not everyone’s.

Oh, I get it, according to you Brain, no such thing as “objective truth.” Does Brian even really exist, or does he only exist in YOUR version.
I hate to shatter your day Brain but objective truth exists regardless if Brian believes it to be so or not.
Despite the “truth” that this country was clearly founded on Judeo-Christian principles, I predict you couldn’t give me even one example (unlike mine which are government related) of how the US Government has imposed upon any citizen, in any way, any “imposition” by the reference to ‘In God We Trust’. This is the history of America Brain, and if you don’t like it, why are you living here when you have so many other choices? Are you so arrogant to think that an entire country needs to change so you and a few of your friends aren’t “offended?” I have taken all I can take of the offended wimps out there, man- up or leave the country!
You don’t appear to be looking for truth Brian, just another rant to justify your false freedom of enslavement. If by chance you ever find a need to seek real truth, I suggest ‘Sanity and Reality’ by Frank Sheed, after perhaps you come to realize that Jesus told us he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Of course you don’t have to believe that, nor is anyone imposing it on you, even if you read ‘In God We Trust’ 200 times today. After all, this is America, and at least while we still have our hard earned freedom, we can totally ignore God or make God anything we want, even into our own religion, be it football, money, our bodies, Obama, or anything else we choose to worship.
Regardless, when it’s all said and done, it will be Truth Himself who will be waiting for all of us.

Oh, I get it, according to you Brain, there is no such thing as “objective truth.” Does Brian even really exist, or does he only exist in YOUR version.
I hate to shatter your day Brain but objective truth exists regardless if Brian believes it to be so or not.
Despite the “truth” that this country was clearly founded on Judeo-Christian principles, I predict you couldn’t give me even one example (unlike mine which are government related) of how the US Government has imposed upon any citizen, in any way, any “imposition” by the reference to ‘In God We Trust’. This is the history of America Brain, and if you don’t like it, why are you living here when you have so many other choices? Are you so arrogant to think that an entire country needs to change so you and a few of your friends aren’t “offended?” I have taken all I can take of the offended wimps out there, man- up or leave the country!
You don’t appear to be looking for truth Brian, just another rant to justify your false freedom of enslavement. If by chance you ever find a need to seek real truth, I suggest ‘Sanity and Reality’ by Frank Sheed, after perhaps you come to realize that Jesus told us he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Of course you don’t have to believe that, nor is anyone imposing it on you, even if you read ‘In God We Trust’ 200 times today. After all, this is America, and at least while we still have our hard earned freedom, we can totally ignore God or make God anything we want, even into our own religion, be it football, money, our bodies, Obama, or anything else we choose to worship.
Regardless, when it’s all said and done, it will be Truth Himself who will be waiting for all of us.

“Oh, I get it, according to you Brain, no such thing as “objective truth.””
Wrong. People disagree with what YOU think is the truth. But you can’t even understand that you might be (gasp!) wrong about what is true, so you have to twist that into me stating that there is no “objective truth.” Which doesn’t resemble anything I’ve said.
“I hate to shatter your day Brain but objective truth exists regardless if Brian believes it to be so or not.”
I only pointed out that your idea of “truth” is not everyone’s.
“Despite the “truth” that this country was clearly founded on Judeo-Christian principles,”
Well, no it wasn’t.
“I predict you couldn’t give me even one example (unlike mine which are government related) of how the US Government has imposed upon any citizen, in any way, any “imposition” by the reference to ‘In God We Trust’”
I’ve already done that. You ignored it, and had your own list of unrelated complaints, which had nothing to do with government-imposed religion.
“This is the history of America Brain, and if you don’t like it, why are you living here when you have so many other choices? Are you so arrogant to think that an entire country needs to change so you and a few of your friends aren’t “offended?” ”
I’ve stated before that this issue has nothing to do with being “offended,” but since you can’t even seem to spell ‘Brian’ correctly, I’m sure it’s unrealistic of me to expect you to understand the legal issues that apply.
Instead, you deteriorate into the usual Christian meaningless blather, “Jebus is TRUTH!”, and so on.
Which, of course, is completely irrelevant to the issue of government-imposed religion. The government is supposed to be neutral on religious questions, not take sides.

I’m a big believer in church-state separation, but I also believe in choosing one’s battles. This violation doesn’t rate my time or effort. To me, “In God We Trust” seems more like a bland generic bit of Deism than a solid endorsement of sectarianism. I have a much bigger problem with the actions of government which try to actively force the beliefs of some citizens on others. Those would include the South Carolina license plates, the endless weasley attempts to install the savage ignorance of creationism in our school curriculum and the flagrant violation of our tax laws by churches which funnel millions of dollars of “charity” money into political lobbying.

While I agree that there are even worse first amendment violations, I see legislators pointing to “in god we trust” and “under god” to justify some of these worse violations.

There is no way the court can conclude that “In God We Trust” is not a religious phrase or that it has any primary purpose but to promote religious sentiment. It will either throw the case out on “standing” as it has in the past or decide that plaintiff’s have not suffered injury. But this motto says to all non-religious citizens that they are not worth consideration. It says the non-religious are second class to religious citizens. This is exactly what the Establishment Clause is meant to defend the minority from. When some Christians read the Establishment Clause, they think the word “establishment” there is a verb, it is not, it is a noun. Read it again.