The History News Network (HNN) posted a letter sent to Newsday from a retired historian after he attended a local Parade Celebrating Independence Day. The parade included a float with a large cross with the words “In God We Trust” displayed alongside Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. The historian, Bill Bernstein, complained that “[t]he float implied that there is a state religion.” You can imagine the responses!

I love the way one of the responders (Leslie Dimmling) explains that the Declaration of Independence included the “word ‘God’ in the first sentence, and ‘Creator’ in the second” [these words are not actually found in the first and second sentence but the first and second paragraph] but she forgot to mention the word “Nature’s” that appears before “God.” As she probably knows (or on second thought she may not know) “Nature’s God” is not the god of Christianity. For more read the post at the HNN.