Is there any reason why the phrase “In God We Trust” should be kept on our currency? If you would object to it’s removal, please tell me why.
One fairly logical reason is that it is the official motto of the United States of America.
Is there any reason why the phrase “In God We Trust” should remain the motto of the United States of America? If you would object to it’s removal, please tell me why.
It’s traditional. I don’t care if it stays or goes.
It gives right wingers somthing to twist their knickers about, as an often circulated email will testify.
So we have a national motto. Whoopie. Personally, I don’t give a rat’s ass one way or the other. Well, I guess I would prefer that either we remove it completely or add “All Others Pay Cash” after it.
Which replaced E pluribus unum, in the 50s. All very symbolic; it’s a way of underlining on every dollar that you aren’t really regarded as an American if you aren’t a Christian.
We should keep it because the last thing we right now is yet another issue to make the Religious Right feel persecuted such that massive amounts of political capital has to be spent to soothe their fragile egos, that could be better spent on issues that actually matter. They can keep in god we trust on the money if I can have universal health care and gay marriage.
Would you object to the removal of the phrase from our currency? After all, the Bald Eagle is the Official Bird of the United States but it isn’t on all the currency.
E Pluribus Unum was never the official motto…it was the defacto motto until '56 when the Congress officially adopted the In God We Trust thingy. But they didn’t just adopt that out of the blue, it’s on the Great Seal as well, and was on US currency as far back as (IIRC) the 1860’s. And people have been agitating for it for a long time…heck, I think Key said something about our motto being In God We trust in the Star Spangled Banner somewhere.
As to why it’s still on the currency…well, why not? Most people don’t care enough to be riled up about it, so why would they change? I mean, have you noticed how boring our currency is compared to other countries? And how low tech it is? And that we still have things like the freaking penny? We don’t change because there hasn’t been a big need for us TOO change, and most people just don’t care or even give it any thought.
As it now stands, they’ve already got their motto, so why should they give up anything?
You don’t think there are non-Christians who believe in God? I think this transcends the Christian nation concept, and says you aren’t really regarded as an American if you don’t believe in a deity, for some people. I think for most it has no meaning though. And even for some Christians (probably not many), the idea of religious symbolism on money isn’t well accepted.
If most people don’t care, then they should have no objection to it’s removal.
It is not exactly the case that E Pluribus Unum was the national motto (which is a shame, because I think it’s an awesome motto.) It was a de facto motto, but no law ever officially made it so.
In a perfect world, the motto would be something more secular like ‘E Pluribus Unum’.
I would love to see In God We Trust banished, replaced by a rotation of sayings. And get rid of the penny.
This is a good answer.
I do wish it weren’t on our money, and I do prefer E Pluribus Unum, but these are good points.
In all fairness I believe they are continually improving the anti-counterfeiting features.
Because most people don’t care doesn’t mean that you could push through a change. But, I don’t care either, so feel free…what’s your projected time table for getting something as hide bound and stuffy as the treasury to make this change? Personally, I wouldn’t hold my breath unless you are willing to do so for a century or so…
While you are at it, see if we can eliminate the penny, ehe? 
They are, but our currency is pretty low tech and drab. Just get a note from another country and you can see the difference. A lot of them aren’t rag paper at all any more, but instead advanced composites that are both more durable AND less prone to holding germs and such…and also more difficult to counterfeit from what I understand (could be wrong here).
I hardly ever even carry cash anymore…I probably haven’t had more than a hundred dollars (total) in my pocket in the last 2-3 years. I do have a nice collection of currency from other countries that I travel too and visit, however.
It’s kind of a dumb motto for a country with religious freedom, in that it seems to imply that an essential part of being an American is belief in God. So, I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing it go… but that said, I don’t see it as a very important issue. It’s pretty easy to ignore. I’m sure there’s plenty of much more meaningful religious discrimination that goes on in this country every day.
Also, I’m pretty sure “In God We Trust” and “One Nation, Under God” both arose as attempts to emphasize how we differed from the Godless communists. As such, they’re kind of anachronistic in this post-Cold War world.