"In God We Trust"

This email has been circulating around the Mary Kay world, and I'm sure some of you have seen it, too:

U.S Government to Release New Dollar Coins
You guessed it:
"In God We Trust" IS GONE!!!
If ever there was a reason to boycott something, THIS IS IT!!!!
DO NOT ACCEPT THE NEW DOLLAR COINS AS CHANGE Together we can force them out of circulation. Please send to all on your mailing list!

Here are some of the comments to accompany this email:

• I didn't know if you wanted to forward this to everyone, but I think it's important not to give up the things that our country was founded on.
• Dear friends and family, I am astounded by this............I hope you are too.

Can someone please explain to me why this is offensive? I am continually baffled as to why people think the absence of something is equivalent to the opposite of something. Now, if the new coin said, "God can kiss my ass," then I can understand the uproar. But simply not including the phrase should not offend anyone! Do these opponents of the new coin stop to consider the opinions and feelings of atheists? Wikipedia tells me that 11.9% of the world's population is "non-religious," and these people have been using our "God" coins for hundreds of years. You don't hear them bitching.

The same phenomena has manifested itself in my wedding-planning. My mother suggested that her neighborhood Mormon bishop perform our marriage ceremony. Now, Bishop Lang is a nice man, and I'm sure he would do a "neutral" ceremony and all, but Joe's family is CATHOLIC. It would be straight-up disrespectful to have a Mormon bishop marry us (not to mention that I've been to church about 3 times in the last 7 years). So I kindly explained to my mother that we would prefer a neutral person, such as a judge, to marry us. That will keep both families' values from being infringed upon, right?

WRONG.

The absence of a Mormon bishop seems to be just as offensive to my mom as the opposite of a Mormon bishop -- a Catholic priest. She says, "I can't believe that you disregard your family's feelings at the expense of Joe's family's." Like I'm purposfully trying to disrespect my upbringing. And no matter how hard I try to explain this idea of neutrality to her, there is just no winning this battle.

But I'm still going to hire a Judge.