IN GOD WE TRUST

In late 1861, a pastor from Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase.  In his letter he wrote, “One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked.  I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.  You are probably a Christian.  What if our Republic were shattered beyond reconstruction?  Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation?”

Within a week, Secretary Chase wrote a letter to the Director of the Mint in which he said, “Dear Sir: 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.  You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition.”

As a result of this exchange, the motto “In God We Trust” began to be inscribed on our nation’s coins.  By 1864 the new two-cent coin carried the motto “In God We Trust.”  In 1956, the motto became our official National Motto.  According to Public Law 84-85, passed by the 84th Congress, the adopting of “In God We Trust” as the National Motto “is proper’ to ‘remind all of us of this self-evident truth’ that ‘as long as this country trusts in God, it will prevail.”’

Because it is a law that our currency must contain the words “In God We Trust,” many non-believers and atheistic people have complained about a “national endorsement” of God and that such an endorsement is an establishment of a religion and therefore is against the First Amendment.  This thought has not been adopted by the Supreme Court, and as a result the motto remains on our currency.  The reason that such words “In God We Trust” have not been removed from our currency is because it has, according to the Supreme Court “lost through rote repetition any significant religious content.”

How sad to think that in 1861 the pastor in Pennsylvania assumed that the Secretary of the Treasury was a Christian and would agree that God must be recognized on our currency, yet today that same recognition only remains because it has “lost through rote repetition any significant religious content.”

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. Proverbs 29:25

The Bible reminds us that “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”  Does our nation really trust in God or is it just another phrase on our money?  It is sad to think that we have such a strong fear of man that our trust in God is beginning to fade.  As the trust fades into motto, the words of the 84th Congress ring eerily to our nation, “As long as this country trusts in God, it will prevail.”  It is interesting to note that the currency that contains the motto without “any significant religious content” has steadily declined in value over the last few years.  How much longer can we prevail?  Do the words “In God We Trust” mean anything to you, or have they lost “any significant religious content?”  Does it matter to you, or is it just a motto to you?

Marylou Dean,
Pastor’s Wife