Michael Newdow has a…

Michael Newdow has a new target.

“I am about to file to get ‘In God We Trust’ off the front of our currency,” he told the Oklahoman. “I plan to do that this week.”

Newdow, of Sacramento, Calif., made the remarks Saturday night shortly before addressing the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma Foundation Bill of Rights Celebration.

“The key principle is that we’re supposed to treat everybody equally especially in terms of religious belief,” Newdow told KWTV in Oklahoma City. “Clearly it’s not treating atheists equal with people who believe in God when you say ‘In God We Trust’ or we are a ‘nation under God.'”

Newdow’s claim is that a government that says “In God We Trust” cannot, by his definition, still treat people equally. Is it then also true that a Christian employer cannot ever treat all his or her employees equally regardless of their religious beliefs? Are all Hindus prejudiced by definition? Indeed, are all atheists predisposed to favor those without religious belief over those with it in all their daily dealings?

If this were so, then Mr. Newdow might have a point. But, of course, it isn’t true. And if it’s not generally true for individuals, then it is even less true of a government that is filled with people of all religious and nonreligious stripes. Further, a national motto mentioning God is a far, far cry from what the First Amendment prohibits; an officially-sanctioned national religion that politicians must pledge to. To suggest otherwise is to not understand what the Pilgrims and others were fleeing; the official entanglement of religion and government (not religion and politics, by the way).

Michael Newdow has no idea what an established religion looks like. And he can thank those mostly Christian Founding Fathers for that.

(Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out, Redstate.org and Blogger News Network. Comments welcome.)

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