According to the First amendment our government agrees to separation of church and state, but when looked into closely this is an overlooked issue when it comes to our so called “patriotic motto,” “In God We Trust” is being displayed on all of our US currency. After several law suits, letters, and strikes being ignored, people have been “taking pen in hand, and obliterating the "In God We Trust" motto from the national currency” (American). Even after taking in consideration the history behind the motto and the arguments against it, our government refuses to change it, in order to avoid major conflicts and restrain our Christian built government.
Before the motto became “In God We Trust” it was “E Pluribus Unum (a Latin phrase translated as "from many, one") which could still be found on the back of the one dollar bill” (Cline). This was believed to be a wholly secular motto for the secular government; however, there were still people that were dissatisfied. “After the Civil War, people encouraged the widespread belief that the tragedy had been a punishment from God for the nation's lack of Christianity-in particular, the governments lack of Christianity” (Cline). Most people in office agree to keep the motto going, in 1955 Congressman Bennett of Florida declared, “At the base of our freedom is our faith in God and desire of Americans to live by His will and His guidance. As long as this country trusts in God, it will prevail. To serve as a constant reminder of this truth, it is highly desirable that our currency and coins should bear these inspiring words "In God We Trust” (American 5), thus increasing religious sentiment.
From the Treasury Department records the change in mottos was suggested in 1861 by Reverend M.R. Watkinson, who “argued that it would "relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism.' It was then specifically designed to promote particular religious beliefs to the detriment of other beliefs” (Cline). Secretary Chase replied by writing a letter to James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, saying, "No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins"” (Fact). “Congress then beginning to be responsive to the religious community and the votes that it was presumed to control, passed the Coinage Act designating that "In God We Trust" be put on all coins” (American ).This is believed to promote religious vision both in the American people and to citizens of other nations.
In 2005 Atheist, Michael Newdow tried to remove “In God We Trust” from our US currency, “claiming in a federal lawsuit that the motto is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion” (MSNBC), violating his First Amendment rights. Newdow even suggested that our motto return to “E Pluribus Unum” to make our currency constitutional, he argued that “the phrase excluded people who don't believe in God.” The US District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr., whom Newdow was appointed, disagreed “citing a 9th Circuit decision from 1970 that concluded the four words were a national motto that had "nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion"” (FOX).
“This motto is an attempt to enforce a particular idea of God in American society has been admitted by those who have not been careful with their words. Stephen Hartkop, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Ohio, has said that "for them to try to remove these words [from the currency] is nothing other than an attempt to try to basically remove God from society, and I really don"t think the people of this country want that'” (Cline). After looking into the U.S. demographics in 2006 76.5% of the US population is affiliated with the Christian beliefs, therefore it is not an immense shock that changing the motto back was denied (U.S.). “Subsequent cases also fell short, even though they argued that the motto clearly encouraged religion and made a statement about God and theology” (American). Many think that “the existence of this phrase is regularly used by fundamentalist in an effort to have the government promote their religious beliefs- completely ignoring the irony of such a religious phrase appearing on money” (Cline). Our government have been using the same excuses as to why we should keep the motto in our government, while more and more people are finding a plethora of ways to act against them and finding new reason to why we should change it, but our government seems to be ignoring the complaints and it is believed that people will start getting fined for writing over the motto, since according to Title 18 section 333 of the U.S. Code prohibits defacement of currency if it is done with the intent to defraud” (American).“Not only is this misuse of government power, but it is an insult to religion to try and claim that trusting in their God is a secular rather than a religious issue” (Cline).
“The phrase "In God We Trust" does not appear in the Bible. Nevertheless Biblical passages such as: Timothy: 4-10 "Trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men…" and Corinthians 1:9 "But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead…" are cited as scriptural inspiration” (American). According to Rick Lanier, “If you secularize and take God and our religious heritage out of [our society], then we open the door even wider to moral corruption and tearing down the very fiber that built this country” (Richey). It's amazing how people's support of the motto is all religious. Their information they use to support their opinion on the matter is religious, and not secular.
Religious beliefs are the only beliefs that most people can truly hold. They don't take in consideration other religions or even beliefs of a different nature. The government even endorses Christianity indirectly by keeping “In God We Trust” on our US currency and on the side buildings. Our country even goes to the extremes of The Pledge of Allegiance saying, “Under God” and swearing oath over a bible while saying “So help me God.” Our country refuses to see these unconstitutional actions and overlook them as “a motto” or even call them “a tradition”. But all the same, it's a form of church over state, and should be looked at as a serious matter other than a historical motto.
