Clucky, regrets on your need to self-censor, which must feel awful. Whether you come out with your atheism or not, though, you can at least tell your co-worker, in a neutral spirit, that it wasn’t what this nation was founded on. The history of the pledge is itself instructive: is she aware of it?
(I feel sheepish at this point for not posting links to the previous threads on this subject, but I’m busy as well as lazy today.)
—I have a 1902 US silver dollar with “In God We Trust” on the reverse, E. Pluribus Unum on the face.—
Provided that’s a real U.S. silver dollar, what you have there is a relic of the LAST great wave of Christian evangelists trying to put their stamp on the government: going all the way back to the end of the Civil War. At the time your coin was minted, IGWT was not yet the motto of the nation (though they did try), but it was successfully installed on one or two monetary items as part of the usual decoration.
You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din. I have never been able to keep my thoughts to myself.
Well thank Og for THAT! If you were able to keep your thoughts to yourself, Eve, the SDMB would be in a poor state indeed!
As Apos notes, “In God We Trust” was engraved on coins starting in the 1860s. But it wasn’t printed on bills until the 1950s – when Congress officially replaced the national motto, as well.
So there was a phase-in period for “In God We Trust,” with an overlap period (including 1902). Now, “E Pluribus Unum” is in a phase-out period, as it were: still on coins and the dollar bill, but not an official motto. More info here.
I was curious this afternoon, so I looked for the topic at the US Mint website.
http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/fun_facts/index.cfm?action=fun_facts5
Thanks very much, Apos, Grumpy, Thras.
I guess, to be fair, “E Pluribus Unum” might have lost some momentum during the Civil War.
“In God We Trust” is such a weenie motto anyway. Can’t we have something threatening as a motto, like Veni Vidi Vici or something like that?
I’ve always liked the motto of North Carolina: esse quam videri.
I always liked Sic semper tyrannis. It’s not all that threating by itself, but the picture of Liberty (?) standing on top of a dead king certainly lends it, shall we say, some grit.
That’s a great one, Monty! Thanks.
Lib said
Does that mean “eat pork BBQ?” I always wondered.
“One or two” monetary items?
In God We Trust has appeared continuously on all U.S. coins worth 25 cents or more since 1866. (The one notable exception being the 1907 gold double eagle, which as Thras has noted caused quite an uproar in its time.)
IGWT didn’t appear on the one-cent piece until 1909, or on the dime until 1916.
The oddball is the five-cent nickel: The first 5 cent nickels were minted in 1866. They bore an image of a shield on the obverse that was almost identical to that on the ill-fated 2-cent piece, and above this shield was a banner that said In God We Trust. 5-cent nickels continued to say IGWT until 1883, when the motto disappeared and the nickel switched to the Charles E. Barber Liberty-in-a-shower-cap design. IGWT didn’t reappear on nickels until the modern Jefferson nickel design of 1938.
I remember that Jesus told Mark (mark 12, 16-17) it was Caesar who was pictured on the money and God did not want it. Why is it the athiest taking the blame, when God is the one who made the rule?