# Why should "In God We Trust" be on our currency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 2, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633 "2013-04-02T16:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/141 "2013-04-03T14:19:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > He gave you quite a few. I would pick “Global Warming”. > > But it’s not just about the level of importance, it’s about the likelihood of success. You’re not going to take “In God We Trust” off US currency. Ain’t gonna happen. Well, perhaps I think that famine is of greater concern, so I ask you, how can you invent something like global warming to get your panties all in a bunch about? You must live a free and easy life if you concern yourself with global warming. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/142 "2013-04-03T14:25:25Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Well, perhaps I think that famine is of greater concern, so I ask you, how can you invent something like global warming to get your panties all in a bunch about? You must live a free and easy life if you concern yourself with global warming. We’ll you’ve convinced me **Hentor the Barbarian** , consider ignorance fought. Because we can all agree that the ramifications of not taking “In God We Trust” off a dollar bill and doing nothing about famine or global warming are the same. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/143 "2013-04-03T14:53:37Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > We’ll you’ve convinced me **Hentor the Barbarian** , consider ignorance fought. Because we can all agree that the ramifications of not taking “In God We Trust” off a dollar bill and doing nothing about famine or global warming are the same. So, do you ignore all your small battles to concentrate on THE BIG PROBLEM? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/144 "2013-04-03T15:04:46Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > We’ll you’ve convinced me **Hentor the Barbarian** , consider ignorance fought. Because we can all agree that the ramifications of not taking “In God We Trust” off a dollar bill and doing nothing about famine or global warming are the same. Great. Just so you know to be equally concerned about it, I also have an itch on my left nut. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/145 "2013-04-03T15:06:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And you think the Global Warming battle will be shorter and/or easier? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/146 "2013-04-03T15:09:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yes. I really should have clarified that question by adding “…and for which side?” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/147 "2013-04-03T15:12:02Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I really should have clarified that question by adding “…and for which side?” Well, for one thing, we’ll have to do something in about 50 years or so, even if it’s too late to do much. But we don’t have to do anything about “In God We Trust”. Also, there isn’t just one answer to the problem of Global Warming, as there is for taking “In God We Trust” off the currency. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/148 "2013-04-03T15:55:13Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So, do you ignore all your small battles to concentrate on THE BIG PROBLEM? That’s a great question, which I obviously don’t have the answer too. It’s clear that a big issue to you may not be a big one to me and vice versa. I do think (in my current American culture) that any transgression however slight or innocently intended, is grounds to get indignant, go to court and demand compensation or an apology nowhere near commensurate to the alleged transgression. And while I can sit back and chuckle at someone suing a dry cleaner for $65M over a lost pair of pants, or Budweiser for not getting one a beautiful women, these issues do tax our legal system and we all pay for that. And they do distract us from focusing on real issues such as the national debt, health care and the like and make people think their pet peeves are truly deserving of more attention than is (I believe) warranted. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/149 "2013-04-03T16:55:45Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Are Martin Luther King Jr, Ghandi and Harvey Milk etc. remembered for forging their movements through being obnoxious or being right and decent? > > Is Rosa Parks lauded for her rudeness? They were being obnoxious - the polite thing would have been to shut up and go along with what they were “supposed” to do. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/150 "2013-04-03T17:00:29Z")
I would Agree with Bricker that the expense and hassle wouldn’t be worth it. However, it’s definitely something that should be re-visited (and hopefully eliminated) when we update our currency. Which is down right primitive compared to other country’s. I would imagine we’ll update the bills at some point in the future. That would be the time to make this a case. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/151 "2013-04-03T17:04:13Z")
I suppose it could be taken as acknowledgment that a fiat currency ultimately rests on faith. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/152 "2013-04-03T17:33:22Z")
Use of the phrase ‘In G-D we trust’ is a clear violation of the third commandment. Crane ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/153 "2013-04-03T17:38:58Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I suppose it could be taken as acknowledgment that a fiat currency ultimately rests on faith. Maybe it was a misprint: “In Gold We Trust”. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/154 "2013-04-03T17:50:02Z")
According to the suggested alternatives as per this account at [Treasury.gov](http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx), my reaction is “Well, I suppose it could have been worse.” Talk about arrogant supposition! Check out the letter that they cite as being the first appeal to godify the currency: > [@early American numbnut](#): > > 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 not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW. > > This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters. and also: > [@](#): > > He proposed that upon the designs either OUR COUNTRY; OUR GOD or GOD, OUR TRUST should appear as a motto on the coins. In a letter to the Mint Director on December 9, 1863, Secretary Chase stated: > I approve your mottoes, only suggesting that on that with the Washington obverse the motto should begin with the word OUR, so as to read OUR GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. And on that with the shield, it should be changed so as to read: IN GOD WE TRUST. At the very least, our currency does not come out and state that the US is subordinate to god, which it potentially could have. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/155 "2013-04-03T23:02:49Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > 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. True. After all, Muslims and Jews don’t believe in the God of Abraham. FTR, I personally wish they’d never adopted it, but don’t really care whether its removed or not. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/156 "2013-04-04T04:29:44Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > They were being obnoxious - the polite thing would have been to shut up and go along with what they were “supposed” to do. There is a difference between standing up for oneself politely and with civil disobedience and being obnoxious. King and Ghandi were not obnoxious and unfailingly polite and good examples. That was the why they were successful in their particular situations. Dawkins, who seems to be the public leader on the atheism issue, seems to me to be polite and non-obnoxious, but not much of a political leader. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/157 "2013-04-04T05:07:57Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > They were being obnoxious - the polite thing would have been to shut up and go along with what they were “supposed” to do. With all due respect, have you ever read up on any of those people or their movements? The who point of both movements was to be polite while engaging in civil disobedience. Why do you think that all the Civil Rights protesters were dressed up in their Sunday best? Had the anti-Vietnam War protesters actually followed their model instead of dressing and behaving the way they did, perhaps they would have accomplished more than getting Nixon elected and causing the Vietnam War to be dragged out. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/158 "2013-04-04T07:34:29Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > There is a difference between standing up for oneself politely and with civil disobedience and being obnoxious. Not to the people being stood up to. Case in point: > [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Dawkins, who seems to be the public leader on the atheism issue, seems to me to be polite and non-obnoxious, but not much of a political leader. And he’s _constantly_ called obnoxious, impolite, arrogant, you name it. An atheist who wants to be called “polite” has to at the very _least_ talk all the time about how miserable he is, about how he wishes he was religious, and about the moral superiority of religion. An atheist who refuses to grovel and express self hatred will _never_ be considered polite by the believers. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/159 "2013-04-04T09:19:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > …So how _does_ one change our culture to one that more atheist-friendly of all of the aspects that reinforce a pro-religious viewpoint are off limits? … We have to _win_ that war on religion that all those christians are telling us we are fighting. The tough part is gonna be actually starting it. But we can do it in small steps. We can start with battles against saints like Saint Patrick – convert it to a secular holiday like maybe “National Beer Day.” If the government gives out free beer on that day, Saint Patrick will be forgotten in about 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633/160 "2013-04-04T15:05:53Z")
Hey, we atheists are in the same boat with gay people. We’re misunderstood, but we pretty much just want the same things everyone else wants. We have families, we have jobs, pay our taxes, we go to church. Oh wait… we don’t do that last thing! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-in-god-we-trust-be-on-our-currency/654633.md?page=9)