Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency? * 10694714 responses
	Yes. It's a violation of the principle of separation of church and state. 16%
	No. The motto has historical and patriotic significance and does nothing to establish a state religion. 84%

This is a poll run by MSNBC today. I posted the following on their comments page:

You're asking the wrong question. 84% of the people who responded didn't believe "The motto has historical and patriotic significance and does nothing to establish a state religion." They responded to emails that circulated on faith mailing lists, saying:

> Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in
> God, as a nation..
>
> NBC is taking a poll on "In God We Trust" to stay on our American
> currency. Please send this to everyone you know so they can vote on this important > subject. Please do it right away, before NBC takes this off the web page.
>
> Poll is still open so you can vote.
>
> This is not sent for discussion, if you agree forward it, if you
> don't, delete it.
>
> By me forwarding it, you know how I feel.
> I'll bet this will be a surprise to NBC.

So let's be clear on what the debate's about. Religious nuts are trying to "school" MSNBC on how pious America is, in order to push their reactionary political agenda into the mainstream. MSNBC has drifted, since the election, in the direction of taking the right seriously. When 100% of the Repubs in the House voted against the concession-filled Recovery Bill, MSNBC analysts pondered "what should Obama have offered them to bring them onboard? What did he do wrong?" Obviously, there was nothing that he could have offered them to prevent their obstructionist walkout. Why is MSNBC playing this game? Because they're looking for more share of the cable news market. Because they believe the hype: that a majority of Americans are conservative, religious kooks, based on skewed results like the ones from this poll. This isn't rocket science, MSNBC. Show some journalistic skills, and get to the bottom of it!