Air Force Removes 'God' From Logo: Rep. J. Randy Forbes Leads Objection To This Move

By Annalisa Musarra
Religion News Service

(RNS) Dozens of members of Congress are upset that the Air Force has removed the Latin word for "God" from the logo of an Air Force acquisitions office.

Led by Rep. J. Randy Forbes, co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, 36 lawmakers Monday (Feb. 6) sent a letter to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz objecting to the removal of "God" from the logo of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO).

The logo was recently removed, according to Forbes, after objections by the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.

Jason Torpy, president of the association, said the word "God" had no place in the logo because not all members of the military are religious. "We just hope (the Air Force) can provide more equal opportunities for atheists and humanists in the military."

"The action taken by the RCO suggests that all references to God, regardless of their context, must be removed from the military," the congressional letter states. "We ask that you reverse this perplexing decision."

According to the lawmakers, all members of the bipartisan prayer caucus, the RCO patch logo previously included the motto "Opus Dei Cum Pecunia Alienum Efficemus" (Doing God's Work with Other People's Money), an inside joke among RCO members. Caucus members say it was changed to "Miraculi Cum Pecunia Alienum Efficemus" (Doing Miracles with Other People's Money).

The letter argues that "courts consistently have upheld the constitutionality of our national motto, 'In God We Trust,' despite the obvious mention of God."

"Obviously the Constitution doesn't treat God like a dirty word," said Luke Goodrich, deputy general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. "Religion is a part of this history."

A representative for the Air Force could not be reached for comment.

Comments

[sjaent2001]

04:55 PM on 01/12/2013

Some more in finale II

This Huff Story though old but is very fascinating to me as mentioned in part I. The US Air force, the LOGO OF God, the non believing, prove of God, folklores, fairy tales, no heaven, no hell, all is well.

What else can be best example to counter the Atheists claim of existence of God that it is there but you have to have controls to sit in the plane and work with the wind and get air borne and break the sound barrier, all is possible with the unseen wind or air, that makes human accomplish to carry the LOGO OF GOD in the HEIGHTS OF THE SKIES through the US AIR FORCE, what a fiat accompli' and what a denial of the actuality and reality of God.

[sjaent2001]

04:49 PM on 01/12/2013

The usual argument of the proof of existing of God is so interesting specially when one is flying. Human mind made so much in synchronization to make flight a possibility even to land on moon. We all know how the air dynamics works and how a person who is trained as a pilot knows fully well that when he sits in the cockpit and put the throttle in motion what is he dealing with ------ AIR. He does not see the Air, does not comprehend it, or compress it, but there is a principle that was observed by the initiators of the flying that when the birds fly they displace the air with their wings and move and get into action for flying. Now we know it is the air that make things fly and even the US air force flies on air for a matter of fact with more than the speed of sound. But see the pilots do not see AIR but they know without Air they cannot fly so air is there you can feel it when it touches you in the wind but other than that, you stay afloat under controls in your own hands, but the air plane and air are two realities one in form and one in AIR existing but not catchable, touchable, but again air is air.

[sjaent2001]

05:43 PM on 01/12/2013

Some more in finale II

This Huff Story though old is very interesting. The US Air force, the LOGO OF God, the non believing asking for prove of God, folklore, fairy tales, no heaven, no hell, all is well, and the US Air Force flying on AIR, with the LOGO OF GOD, Pilots conquering space in shuttles, air planes, working with the most UNSEEN WIND, but they believe that without WIND OR AIR IN THE SYSTEM NO AIRPLANE CAN FLY --- and lack of air or Air Pockets creates a lot of Turbulence and sometimes even can crash the plane and plunge to death, so something so vital as Air, to make you fly and lack of it make you plunge to death, so it is up to anyone, what he wants, fly, with air, or fall without air, at the controls towards the final destination.

What else can be best example to counter the Atheists claim of existence of God that it is there but you have to have controls to sit in the plane and work with the wind and get air borne and break the sound barrier, all is possible with the unseen wind or air, that makes human accomplish to carry the LOGO OF GOD in the HEIGHTS OF THE SKIES through the US AIR FORCE, what a fait accompli and what a denial of the actuality and reality of God.

[sjaent2001]

12:00 AM on 01/13/2013

I am so glad that the pilots and those who are in the aviation industry, are not challenged by the non aviation experts, to PROVE AIR, as they cannot catch it, see it, feel it, touch it, but they have the controls at the throttle to ignite the engines to propel, get energy from fuel burn it and then get ready to SUCK THE AIR in the air plane engines, and take off, they never see Air, but they suck it and get to the new heights in the space and steer clear and out of turbulence, carrying tons of load of cargo and living human being. Can the Atheists comprehend that the air used to make us fly successfully, is not seen, touched, caught, or whatever, and no folklore or fable or fairy tale story ------------- something that powerful that sustains all human and non human life is not seen and no prove only if your blow it away ---- and that is what the atheist at best do BLOW AWAY THE BELIEF IN ONE SUPER DEITY WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND MADE ALL OF US --- humans the supreme of all the creations to make it happen, take and fly and conquer the distant space, which was out of reach of the ancestors who lived millenniums or centuries ago, only with the invention of the jet engine, propulsion, ignition, rocket boosters and lift offs, only then man could land on moon.

[sjaent2001]

04:47 PM on 01/12/2013

This Huff Story though old is very interesting. The US Air force, the LOGO OF God, the non believing, prove of God, folklores, fairy tales, no heaven, no hell, all is well.

some more in finale II

[Tomm JOnzz]

07:37 PM on 05/31/2012

that's not the word "God," it's the Latin word "Dei" so it's some furrein, false Latino god and //should// be removed. this is 'Merica -- speak English, "amigo"! #satire

[sweetlilthing]

05:17 PM on 04/16/2012

It's against the Law and the Constitution. Make no mistake, Military regulations and the Constitution; make it perfectly clear that religion has no place in the official functions of the US government. Having “God in it’s logo is in direct violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibiting government officials, including military personnel, from using the machinery of the state to promote any form of religion. They are violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. General Order 1A, Part 2, Section J issued by General Tommy Franks on behalf of the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) back in December of 2000. It strictly prohibits "proselytizing of any religion, faith or practice,"
I see the removal of “God” from its logo the result of our government attempting to right a serious wrong.

[helmcc814]

07:07 PM on 04/29/2012

In God we trust is our national motto and printed on our money. One nation under God is in the pledge of allegience. I am an atheist and while those things do not actually offend me they should not be there. I can say the pledge without saying "under God", but I cannot not use money. And these are mandated by the government and I would like to know why.

[Tomm JOnzz]

07:32 PM on 05/31/2012

you could cross out the motto on all your bills. if you're really ambitious, you could scratch it off of coins, too.

if you want to have some fun with it, you could cross out "GOD" and put in some other deity.

for the record, i do say this to point out the possibility and not as an endorsement and note that defacing US currency is against the law.

[EmmaDarian]

01:37 PM on 06/05/2012

(You probably already know this, so I'm just riffing off your comment)

"Under God" wasn't in the Pledge until the 1950s and Cold War hysteria/McCarthyism. Teaching it to children tells them that their government believes in God and it conflates patriotism with belief in God.

Religious zealots fought to get "God" added to our money and added to out pledge, and then use those references to perpetuate the ridiculous myth that this a Christian nation. Those references are not harmless.

[JusticeIsWhere]

08:36 PM on 03/17/2012

A secular nation is the best protection for religious freedom to avoid the tyranny of the majority-faith. As for God bombing nations, I think that would be a self-righteous position to assert, something like Manifest Destiny.

[sweetlilthing]

05:30 PM on 04/16/2012

Excellent post.

[soma77]

12:10 AM on 03/17/2012

Ever since God was removed from our legislators hearts they want to move women to the back, keep stickers on airplanes, stop giving food to the poor and turn the eye on our elderly, poor and young. Putting a sticker on a plane is not going to put God in anyone's heart.

[sweetlilthing]

05:24 PM on 04/16/2012

You don't need God to do the right thing. It's clear that the Republicans promote laws that reduce social safety nets to the poor. It's confusing how a group of politicans can say they represent the religious in America and yet want to pull the rug out from under the poor? I'm leaning toward a group who is more secular and does the right thing.

[Jujubeen]

05:04 AM on 03/12/2012

Atheists are petty and ridiculous, fight over something important not the names of places and phrases used.

[sweetlilthing]

05:28 PM on 04/16/2012

You mean like Gays and womens rights? Like leaving social nets in place for the poor? Like keeping our gov't the way the Founding Fathers wanted it - Secular! You mean like doing the right thing for the sake of Goodness not punishmnet or reward? We're way ahead of you....

[nadohawk]

02:54 AM on 03/07/2012

Why are they changing logos? Does it really matter what is on them that they need to be changed?

I mean they have much more important things to worry about like protecting our country from boogie men and bombing civilians of foreign countries under the auspices of freedom.

[owswtf]

11:51 PM on 03/17/2012

Just following the CIC orders.

[sweetlilthing]

05:29 PM on 04/16/2012

They are changing the logo because having the word God in the logo is against the Law and Constitution.

[jollywhitegiant]

09:24 AM on 03/06/2012

"The action taken by the RCO suggests that all references to God, regardless of their context, must be removed from the military," the congressional letter states. "We ask that you reverse this perplexing decision."

First of all, there is no context in which you can place the word God that does not invoke religious thought or inclination. This is inescapable. Second, this decision is only "perplexing" to this man because it seems that he cannot envision anything outside a religious context where God is stamped on all products and services, maybe even our foreheads...

"Obviously the Constitution doesn't treat God like a dirty word," said Luke Goodrich, deputy general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. "Religion is a part of this history."

If the Constitution says anywhere that the God of Abraham is the basis for the established government of the united States, then I must be reading the wrong copy of the text. No where in our founding documents do we see a clear, unambiguous reference to the word "God." Instead, ambiguous words like "Creator" were substituted to encompass all religions, not just Christianity. Again, this is revisionist history seen through the lens of Christianity.

[JusticeIsWhere]

08:47 PM on 03/17/2012

In God we trust was revisionist propaganda in the 50's along with one nation under god, yet many act as though it has always been that way since 1776.

[owswtf]

11:54 PM on 03/17/2012

Yes, but there are many cases where God was not as you called "revisionist propaganda in the 50's " in the founding and establishment of America.

[owswtf]

10:28 PM on 02/26/2012

Next they will have to take all the lightening bolts out of the logo.
The entire design used on the shield of the Air Force Seal is taken from an heraldic representation of the mythological thunderbolt, also termed Jupiter's thunderbolt,. Jupiter was the Roman mythological God of the Heavens.

[JusticeIsWhere]

09:12 PM on 03/17/2012

Those gods are accepted as mythology and are cleared for take off, but some mythologies have not been put to rest yet. Perhaps Yahweh will adorn aircraft in one-hundred years. And Peace-Keeper missiles can become Jesus Christ missiles symbolic of a prophetic second coming.

[wakawaka09]

09:27 AM on 02/19/2012

God is all about raining hellfire from the sky.

[Berettasskeeter]

09:56 AM on 02/21/2012

Really? So, why hasn't He done so in the last 3,000 years?
Semper fi

[wakawaka09]

09:18 PM on 02/21/2012

My post was all about pointing out the contradictory nature of having "god" on instruments of death and destruction (loving god and all that) and the irony of his faithfull getting their underwear in knots over having "his" name removed from the planes.

[wutrup]

04:59 PM on 02/18/2012

We are all of God, In God we trust, is like saying in Sadamn we trust, or in Hitler we trust. I don't think so....

[nadohawk]

02:51 AM on 03/07/2012

Goodwin's Law lol.

[martykz]

12:38 AM on 12/01/2012

In the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster we trust. All others pay cash.

[yeti7]

01:13 PM on 02/17/2012

I know some from the RCO must be reading here by now.
Can one of you please explain the Red Star .

[dtmfman]

12:10 PM on 02/17/2012

someone should issue an arrest warrant for god....for child abuse...