21-Year-Old Atheist Receives Hate Mail For Challenging Alabama 'In God We Trust' Display
A 21-year-old atheist who spoke out against a "In God We Trust" display in Mobile, Alabama has reportedly received hate mail and death wishes for her comments, she claims.
21-year-old Amanda Scott, a member of the Mobile Atheist Community, spoke last week at a meeting held by the Mobile County Commission regarding the possibility of an "In God We Trust" display to be featuring in the Mobile Government Plaza.
Scott joined other groups, including Pagans and Universalists, in contesting the religious nature of the motto and suggesting the southern city instead adopt a more secular phrase for its government plaza. Scott and her fellow opponents failed at convincing the county commission to change their mind, and the commission voted 2-1 to allow a privately-funded "In God We Trust" display to be erected in the Government Plaza.
Since last week's public meeting, Al.com reports that Scott has received a variety of hate mail and death threats on social media sites, as well as the "comments" section for media outlets that reported on her atheist stance. Some private comments sent to Scott's personal inbox were also made public by Al.com.
Some of the most threatening comments, according to Al.com, include "Whatever happened to stoning people in the city square?" and "What do I think? I think she will burn in Hell when her time comes."
The 21-year-old atheist activist told Al.com that she is disappointed by the comments, but added that she "will not allow the hatred to discourage me from continuing to defend the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state and the civil rights of atheists here in the city of Mobile and the state of Alabama."
Although Scott and other atheists oppose the "In God We Trust" motto, Mobile's county commissioners have said the phrase holds a historical significance to the U.S. County Commission Chair Connie Hudson told WKRG-TV that she voted for the phrase "[…] because it is the national motto. It has been approved by joint resolution of Congress, it has been recognized nationally in public buildings, in the Supreme Court."
Hudson added that replacing "In God We Trust" with a different phrase, like one of the ones suggested by the Pagan or atheists groups, would not be the same because such phrases do not hold a historical significant for the nation. "To approve anything else that doesn't have that level of national significance is different, it's like apples and oranges in my opinion."
