E Pluribus Unum

From many, one.

Is it the desire of Americans to exclude? With the words of Emma Lazrus’ poem The New Colossus etched in bronze on Liberty Enlightening the World, the statue more commonly referred to as Lady Liberty,

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The same poem gives the name of this country as Mother of Exiles.

I was born in Hampton, Virginia, the state of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. I went to public school, paid taxes since working at the age of 15, voted in every state and national election since my 18th birthday in 2000, graduated from the University of Notre Dame, lived in more than six states on every corner of the country, and have never left the continent. Yet, I do not feel like an American.

Is this the intention? Am I to continue to show deference to weak tradition and overwhelming calls to just “let it go”?

The national motto of my country is “In God We Trust”. On every coin the same motto appears, proclaiming this country one of ceremonial deism at the very least, and at its’ most egregious an establishment of this nation as one under the God of Christianity.

And what of the people who do not trust in God? If the offensive and equally insulting motto were changed to “In God We Do Not Trust” would the common theist response be similar? Would the call to “let it go” be heeded?

Do not assume they are not the same, in my eyes, this country is not a place for people like myself. This self-evident truth in my own emotion and reason trumps all claims of revisionist history when one assumes that this country was never meant to allow people seeking a country based on liberty to exclude anyone based on religion, creed, or race. By my very opining on the subject, the declaration of my own uncomfortable alienation I am confirming that that which was never intended by the founding fathers of this country is reality.

The lack of representation only points to the more disturbing trend of persecution among the majority religious of the atheists in this country. The foundation of this country is freedom, first and foremost.

Until the country stops regressing, until it realizes and recognizes the position and importance and rich history of her Freethinkers, until she declares openly E. Pluribus Unum, America is no longer a free country.