In God We Trust?

I am outraged at the hypocrisy of our government in regards to the official motto "In God We Trust." There is no perspective to rationalize the term "God" as secular. "God" is, and can only be a religious reference. Despite our claimed, but not enforced, separation between church and state, there is religious sponsorship on every piece of currency. This motto endorses religions that worship one god, thereby excluding those that worship multiple gods and those that abstain from worship. Over 75,000,000 people in America either worship multiple gods or no god at all. This motto does not unite the country; it promotes the idea that some of our citizens are preferred over others.

More troubling is that thrice this issue has been appealed to our courts and dismissed.

1970: Aronow v. United States:

"It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage and currency ... has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise."

-- I do not see the "obvious" tie of "God" to patriotism rather than religion.

1979: Madalyn Murray O'Hair v. W. Michael Blumenthal, Secretary of Treasury:

"From this it is easy to deduce that the Court concluded that the primary purpose of the slogan was secular; it served as secular ceremonial purpose in the obviously secular function of providing a medium of exchange. As such it is equally clear that the use of the motto on the currency or otherwise does not have a primary effect of advancing religion."

-- Promoting religion need not be its primary intended effect, it is enough that it DOES have the effect of subjugating non-religion.

1994: The Freedom From Religion Foundation conducted a national survey which showed that "In God We Trust" was regarded as religious by an overwhelming percentage of U.S. citizens. They initiated a lawsuit in Denver, Colorado to have it removed from U.S. paper currency and coins. They also wanted it to be discontinued as the national motto. Their lawsuit was dismissed by the district Court without trial, on the grounds that "In God We Trust" is not a religious phrase!

-- The population overwhelmingly thinks the phrase is religious, but the courts do not. What is wrong with this picture?

History

The motto was first used on the 2-cent piece in 1864. This was in response to increased religious sentiment during the Civil War. The motto was completely absent for the first 88 years of our history.

The motto was used intermittently on coins from 1864 to 1938. All U.S. coins have carried the motto since 1938. A law was passed in 1956, making "In God We Trust" the national motto, replacing "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of Many, One). The first US currency to carry the motto appeared in 1957 and by 1964 appeared on all bills. This was in response to growing fear of Communism during the 1950s and the inaccurate assumption that all Communists are Atheist, and vice-versa.

In addition to the implementation of the motto "In God We Trust," the Eisenhower administration also added the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, and added "so help me God" to the end of government oaths.

For a more complete history, visit the official U.S. Treasury web site HERE, and a nice piece in the Religious Tolerance web site HERE.

My Experience

The U.S. Constitution defines the separation between church and state. I learned this as a child and I remember as a 10-year old wondering why "In God We Trust" appeared on our money. I asked my mother what this meant and she said that "people left by themselves will do bad things, we trust God to make them do the right thing." Of course when I got older, I realized that I needed to clean out my gutters and all the praying in the world wouldn't change that. The action and initiative needed to come from within. I couldn't TRUST God to do it, I need to do it myself. This reminds me of the adage "God helps those who help themselves." After careful consideration of the two phrases I came to the conclusion God stays out of it, and your life is what you make of it. But still I was confused by the fact that our government SUPPOSEDLY separated church and state, yet had a reference to God on the money it circulates.

I am all for personal religious freedom. I don't care if my neighbor is Catholic, Islamic, Shinto, or Atheist. Since I want my neighbor to tolerate my religious opinions, I will also honor his freedom to believe as he sees fit. The issue with the motto on money creates 2 problems. First is that it flies in the face of this tolerance. By stating "God" it promotes monotheism (one god) over many gods (polytheism) . Basically this mean Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are given preferential treatment; which makes outcasts of Wiccans and Zoroastrians, which believe in 2 gods; Hindus, who believe in many gods; etc. As of the 2000 census, Christians, Jews, and Islams accounted for only 75% of the American population. By simple math we see that "In God We Trust" is contrary to the religious views of 25% of Americans. That is, over 75 Million people are being excluded by our government. This fact is subtle and generally overlooked by monotheists. The second problem is more obvious in that it directly excludes Agnostics, Atheists, and Deists (what's a Deist? Click HERE).

How Can We Make It Better?

We can remind legislators that the separation of church and state is meant to preserve the integrity of both. We can repeal the acts of the fear-driven Eisenhower administration and return to the unifying slogan this country enjoyed previously, E Pluribus Unum.

*Note: the term "separation of church and state" is a bit misleading, but it is in common use. The actual meaning is "separation of religion and government." The "wall of separation" defined by Thomas Jefferson is not intended to only pick on religions that utilize a church, but ANY religious activity or belief...or non-belief for that matter. Many writings on this topic make this distinction with this same footnote. I will continue to use the vernacular phrase even though it is technically not 100% accurate.