Touchy Subject In My City

So Mission Viejo decided to display "In God We Trust" as an emblem behind where the City Council sits during City Council meetings. That means the emblem would be nice and big when meetings are televised.

Now I believe in God, and I understand why we would choose to have this emblem on display. However, after living in Mission Viejo for 20 years and knowing that there is (unfortunately) a large population of citizens who are TOO HARD religiously, I feel that having this emblem really is unnecessary and will do more division than unify.

For example, residents on my street have used religion to the point where my boyfriend isn't good because he's Jewish, and they use it as a tool to discriminate against others: having public Bible readings to their kids on their front lawn and if you don't openly accept God or go to church, you're a bad person. These people are the ones that push for the emblem.

It may not seem like a big deal, but if you lived in my city with an open mind, you would understand. I LOVE Mission Viejo. I LOVE my city. I am very, very fortunate to have been able to grow up here and go to these great schools. But it's come to the point where believing in God isn't even enough...you must go to Church. If you're home on Sunday, some little kids call you a witch.

So imagine what people would say if you're in office and vote against displaying "In God We Trust." This would be seen as un-patriotic. However, at times people in my city 1) try to live up to "The OC" and "The Real Housewives of Orange County" (since Coto is the gated community right by my house) and 2) resemble "Pleasantville" sometimes (but now with Moms who don't watch their young kids when they play in the streets and instead go workout or go shopping). There are a lot of people I know who are spiritual or atheist but are good, intelligent, hard-working people.


Honestly, we really don't need to have our emblem....our City Council Chamber looks like a scene out of 1984 already without it (with all the cold, contemporary design and colors and technology).

Read the Yes Reason.
Read the No Reason.

Sites of interest:

• HolyCoast: Where they say "I didn't think we had lefty kooks in our town, but there's always going to be a few. If nothing else we should encourage them to speak out to remind us of what strange creatures they really are. It's not unlike displaying poisonous, ugly animals at the zoo."
• The Liberal OC
• Liberal Atheist Vegetarian