In God We Trust

[4][5] It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one"), which had been the de facto motto since the initial design of the Great Seal of the United States.

[6] The fourth stanza of the U.S. national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner", adopted from the 1814 poem "The Defence of Fort M'Henry", contains the line: "And this be our motto—"In God is our trust"".

The precise phrase, "In God We Trust" is also found in a publication of Isaac Watts' Psalter which was revised and printed in the United States in 1785.

[34] Additionally, in 1864, Harper's Weekly reported that the Union Navy had captured a flag whose motto said: "Our cause is just, our duty we know; In God we trust, to battle we go.

"[37] President Abraham Lincoln's Treasury Secretary, Salmon P. Chase, a lifelong evangelical Episcopalian who was known for his public shows of piety,[7][38] acted swiftly on the proposal to include a motto referring to God and directed the then-Philadelphia Director of the Mint and member of the National Reform Association, James Pollock, to begin drawing up possible designs that would include the religious phrase.

[39] Walter H. Breen, a numismatist, wrote that Chase drew inspiration from the motto of Brown University of Providence, Rhode Island, In Deo speramus, which is Latin for a similarly sounding "In God we hope".

[c] As Chase was preparing his recommendation to Congress, it was found that the federal legislature passed a bill on January 18, 1837, which determined the mottos and devices that should be stamped on U.S. coins.

Such bill was introduced and passed as the Coinage Act of 1864 on April 22, 1864, allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to authorize the inclusion of the phrase on one-cent and two-cent coins.

The New York Times editorial board asked to "let us try to carry our religion—such as it is—in our hearts, and not in our pockets" and criticized the Mint for including the motto only on golden and larger silver coins.

[50] New York Illustrated News ridiculed the new coins for marking "the first time that God has ever been recognized on any of our counters of Mammon,"[26] with a similar comparison made by the Detroit Free Press.

[56][57] Theodore Roosevelt insisted that while he was in favor of placing the motto on public buildings and monuments, doing so for money (or postage stamps and advertisements) would be "dangerously close to sacrilege":[39] "My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good, but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege.

Most news outlets affiliated with Christian organisations, as well as The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Press and other newspapers were critical of the decision, with accusations amounting to the President being guilty of premeditated assault on religion and disregard for Americans' religious sentiments.

[39] In contrast, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and some religious newspapers such as The Churchman, sided with the President,[7][55] who was both stunned and irritated by people's opposition to excluding the motto.

In his book, he argues that conservative opposition to the New Deal, and those politicians' subsequent successful campaigns to expand the influence of religion, were the main factors that contributed to further adoption of "In God We Trust".

[61] The following year, Democratic Representative Charles Edward Bennett of Florida cited the Cold War when he introduced H. R. 619, which obliged "In God we trust" to be printed on all banknotes and struck on all coins, in the House, arguing that "[in] these days when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, we should continually look for ways to strengthen the foundations of our freedom".

[81][82] The House of Representatives features the motto above the rostrum of the Speaker, which was carved in the wall in December 1962[83] in response to the Supreme Court banning public school prayer in Engel v.

[139] According to Philip Jenkins, a historian of religion, some Bible translations rendered Psalm 56:11 as "In God I trust; I will not fear",[140] which could lead to substitution of the first "I" for "we".

[12] MSNBC launched a similar live survey online that ran for several years in the late 2000s and yielded overwhelming opposition to the removal of the motto.

[13] "In God We Trust" has long been controversial as an official motto due to what opponents perceive as being a religious statement, and as such, violating the separation of church and state.

Secular and atheist organizations, such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State,[155][156] Freedom From Religion Foundation,[157][158] as well as The Satanic Temple[92] members, have all opposed inclusion of such motto.

[7][82][161][162] Opponents, on the other hand, argue that not only does the motto violate the secular character of the United States, but it also predefines the type and number of gods (if any) to be trusted.

[166] The courts also rely on the notion of "ceremonial deism" (as defined in Brennan's dissent in Lynch v. Donnelly, 1984),[167] i.e. that there exist religious references that, through their repetitious and customary usage, have become secular and are thus constitutional.

[171] Congressmen were afraid that "In God We Trust" would have to disappear from coins and banknotes,[172] the feeling shared by the then president of the American Bar Association, John C.

[173] Congressmen tried to direct federal funds to buy Bibles for the Supreme Court justices and to propose a constitutional amendment allowing school prayer (both measures failed).

[170] A similar ruling the following year in Abington Township v. Schempp prompted senators to attempt to force the Supreme Court to hang the national motto in the courtroom, which also did not succeed.

§ 324a)[174] stood, and the Ninth Circuit stated that "its [motto's] use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise".

[187][188] Even though efforts to remove "In God We Trust" in most settings were largely fruitless, mandatory display of mottos in general on license plates drew some skepticism from the judiciary.

In Wooley v. Maynard (1977), the Supreme Court struck down a New Hampshire law mandating that every person carry the state motto on their license plates.

But in obiter dicta, the majority of the Supreme Court in Wooley indicated they would reject the line of argument that the plaintiffs used in that case to declare the presence of the national motto on currency unconstitutional.

[11] In 2023, Shas, a Haredi religious political party in Israel, proposed a bill that would order inclusion of "In God we trust" motto on banknotes, but it died in the Knesset.