In God We Trust

Steve Kreuscher from Zion, IL wants to legally change his name to In God We Trust.

First name: In God.
Last name: We Trust.

Kreuscher, a Christian who gave up on organized religion 20 years ago, said the new name would symbolize the story of his life.

“I’ve had to trust God through incredibly hard times,” he said.

Going through an “extremely painful” divorce, bouts of severe depression, money problems and a life-threatening home invasion, he believes God protected him through it all.

He’s also worried atheists might finally be successful in having the phrase “In God We Trust” removed from U.S. currency.

“Those words are an endangered species,” Kreuscher said. “You might take it off the money, but you can’t take away my name.”

(Because if we took the phrase off the money, it could no longer be said…?)

The name change will happen next month if the judge approves his request.

It’ll cost him up to $400.

That’s chump change, though. He’s charging $78,000 for this piece of art.

Somehow, it seems like we could make 2389241 jokes about this name change.

I can’t think of any right now.

Surely something’s popping into your mind… what you got?

(Thanks to infideljoe for the link!)

[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]

"To intimidate and traumatize staff and patients."

San_Ban

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"He doesn't realize what his book of fairy stories actually says, how is he going ..."

muttpupdad

"Ah. MAD Magazine. :)"

NOGODZ20

"To be as annoying and hateful as is possible, of course. Just like Jesus!"

Andy Horsuroddinon

mumbochick

I would never spend 78,000 on a piece of art where the artist can’t spell the word “recent” correctly.
Ken McKnight

I can hear Ben Stein now: “We trust? We trust? We trust?”
c.darrows

“You might take it off the money, but you can’t take away my name.”

deal done.
Kathryn

But what if he marries?
Ashes

At work: Phone call for Mister-we (Mystery) Trust on line two.

Meeting new people: Hi, I’m In God. And you are..?

On forms: We Trust, In God No Middle Initial

At his funeral: And so it was on that fateful day that God called his faithful servant In God We Trust back home and away from the Earth.

And many others.. I certainly won’t argue the man’s right to be named as he wishes, but Hemant’s right, this is comic. 🙂
mikespeir

God “protected him through” it all? Why didn’t God protect it from it all?

I like the painting, though.
overcaffein8d

“Jesus wasn’t celebate; even right now, i’m In God.”

“That’s not your money! It doesn’t have your name on it!

Actually…”
James

If his name change is rejected, he can try again as Ingrid Wheatrust.
Gabriel

E Pluribus Unum

Hope I spelled that right.
Richard Wade

Who’s going to be willing to sound like a lunatic calling out his name? If you’re looking for him you have to walk around shouting “In God? In God? Yooo hoooo! Iiiiiinnnnnn Gaaaahhhhhhdddd!” If you see him in the cafeteria are you going to yell, “Hey, come join us In God!” Will his close friends (assuming he has any) take to calling him Ingy? How many hundreds of hours will he spend explaining his name every time he pulls out his credit card, trying to reassure the sales clerk that it’s legitimate? If he gets stopped by a traffic cop and hands the officer his driver’s license, will he ever make it down the road again?

Kathryn’s question about what if he marries has lots of possibilities. “Do you, In God take Helen to be your lawfully wedded wife?…and do you Helen, take In God to be your lawfully wedded husband?…Let me be the first to introduce to our guests here, In God We Trust and Helen We Trust.” Later they have kids. I’ll stop there. The potential for stupid names is giving me a headache.
Richard Wade

Click on Hemant’s link at the top, “legally change his name.” There’s a picture of Kreuscher standing next to what is apparently his painting of Jesus with a crown of thorns. Does the uncanny resemblance say something….?
Jen

Why are all the crazy ones from my home state?

My hope is that one day he goes to the doctor. “Next up, In God We… ok, let’s stop it right here. Please go home and pray. We are tired of you nuts taking credit for our work.”

Also, that painting? I think I saw it on velvet being sold next to a truck stop. Thought it was overpriced at $10. And In God, I am pretty sure God doesn’t want you to promote whore fingernails. And is it just me, or is there something very off about this child?
Kieran Bennett

Obviously a stunt to promote his unsalably expensive “art”.

Smart, art by no-one is worth next to nothing, art by the guy who got famous changing his name to “In God We Trust”, it might have novelty value… If it’s actually any good it might be worth something.

But not $78 000, he’s living in a dream world if he thinks this stunt is going to pay that well!
Anfractuosity

His name would inevitably be divided by computers as Ingod Wetrust. Do you know what happens to an ingot of wet rust? It crumbles away into nasty little flakes. Hmmmmmmmmm.
Alycia

If I had to engage in conversation with this guy, if he were a coworker, say, I’d call him I.G., which would eventually morph into “Idgie”, then devolve into names like “the Idge” and “Idgie Pop and the Stooges”. Not very soon after I address him as “Sir Idgelots III”, he would refuse to talk to me, which, from what I gather from that article, would not be such a bad thing.
Polly

Going through an “extremely painful” divorce
bouts of severe depression
money problems
a life-threatening home invasion

he believes God protected him through it all.

Faith is about setting the bar for god really, really low.
Derek

His atrocious spelling and grammar on the page selling his meta-DaVinci make it hard for me to take him seriously…
E

Sob stories and archaic beliefs aside, the guy’s not a bad artist. Maybe not $78,000 worth of not bad, but at least it’s not all crucifixion scenes and “Peaceable Kingdom” knockoffs.

And how appropriate is it that he hails from a town called “Zion”? It’s almost too good to be true.