Why does U.S. money say "IN GOD WE TRUST" when not every U.S. citizen believes in God?
407045
It says "In God We Trust" because for millenia Christians had a lot of issues when it came to money. After all, Jesus said it was harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to pass thru the eye of a needle. Money was seen as the root of all evil, and the very act of touching a dollar could bring about a bit of guilt in the Christian mind. \n\nSo, in order to make sure the economy moved along smoothly, and that no one felt guilty about spending and making money, they decided to put "In God We Trust" on the dollar. Handing that crisp dollar to the cashier could make your average Christian cringe, but then they would look down and there it was, "In God We Trust", and that would bring a smile to their faces. Suddenly they would feel confident about buying that ice cream, and might even buy double scoop, thereby doubling their trust in God! \n\nWell, it is a theory at any rate . . .
1052679
God is the God of all people.  I think Americans can be grateful that they have the abundance that they enjoy.\n\nPride is another matter and it depends on how you mean it.  It is good to be a great nation, but it is also important to be a nation that seeks peace, looks after the less fortunate, and maintains ethical standards of resource sharing, justice, and care for the planet.
695954
God told them to and the actually believe it .\nPeople who believe in religions are easily manipulated .\nJust look at the republican party to see what I mean .\nThe rich Godless leaders have managed to convince the poor working believers that we are all the same .\nWe are not .Money and power divide america into the haves and have nots .
226626
We, the citizens of United States of America, continuously speak of Peace, and Love to each fellow man and woman.  We allege to being a nation of peaceful citizens, opposing injustice and human brutality.\n\nWe consciously and religiously worship god, regardless of our sins.  \n\nWe, the citizens of the United States of America, represent our country.  We are our government, whether we like it or not.  The sins our government may or may not have committed are the responsibility of it's citizens - us.\n\nIf our Presidents is disrespectful, we are disrespectful.  We are our country, we are our President.  \n\nWe are equally responsible for the negativity circulating around our globe.  As Americans, we are just too arrogant to admit this.\n\nIt may be wrong to continue to use god as our armor, falsly repenting during holidays and disasters.\n\nI am not proud that we are so disliked.  I personally have no fear of God, only Love.  I only wish the entire world would see us for the beautiful nation we really are.
309315
The notion that the United States is a Christian nation is false on numerous levels. Certainly we are heavily influenced Christianity, but to say we are a Christian nation flies in the face of reason.\n\nConsider the following:\n\n1. According to the 1990 US Census, 91.6% of Americans were Christians. By 2000, the percentage had decreased to 85%. \n\n2. Many of the Western Europeans who settled the original thirteen colonies fled their nations of origin to evade religious persecution and state-imposed religions.\n\n3. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, two of our most prominent Founding Fathers, were Deists. Washington and Jefferson were not particularly religious but tended more toward Deism than Christianity.\n\n4. Thomas Paine, whose writings were a powerful catalyst for the American Revolution, vehemently attacked Christianity in one of his works and refused to embrace Christianity, even on his death-bed.\n\n5. God is not mentioned in our Constitution. The Declaration of Independence simply mentions "Nature's God" and a "Creator", neither of which specifically imply a Christian god.\n\n6. Per the Treaty of Tripoli, endorsed by President John Adams and ratified unanimously by the US Senate in 1797: "As the Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion..."\n\n7. McCarthy-inspired anti-Communist hysteria motivated Eisenhower to sign Public Law 140 in 1956. Going forward, all US coins and paper money bore the propagandistic slogan "In God We Trust" to reassure Americans that we were better than the godless Communists. The same year, the words "under God" were added to the Pledge of Allegiance. \n\n8 Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, was vehemently opposed to the concept of state-sponsored religion. The term "seperation of church and state" was first penned by him in a letter the the Danbury Baptists.\n\nA few more Thomas Jefferson quotes on this topic are:\n"No religious reading, instruction or exercise, shall be prescribed or practiced in schools inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination." \n\n"The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." \n\n"I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another." \n\n"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own." \n\n"We have no right to prejudice another in his civil enjoyments because he is of another church."\n\nThat being said, I do believe the US was founded on Christian "priciples", (love, tolerence, equality, etc.), but not on the Christian religion.\n\nedit:\nYou quote states "religion, as well as reason", not religion alone. The short answer is yes, our country was founded on Christian "principles", as I said before. It was not founded with Christianity and the official religion, as others have implied.\n\nfor Nelson_DeVon and bocoo_man:\nI challenge you to quote the part of the Declaration of Independence where it talks about Jesus (i.e. Christianity). "Nature's God" and "Creator" are mentioned, but no Jesus. You won't find Him in the Constitution or Bill of Rights either.
1061768
Amen !  America was founded   with  God  as its leader, with the ten commandments as our basis for the law..God was   put on our currency, accepted in the  schools,  at sporting functions,in the home ,in the courts etc etc... now they  want to abolish God   ,  as if God has gone out of style,if the ACLU and  all the liberals have their way they will continue to  remove God from any thing and every thing !  it becomes more and more like revelations all the time... God bless!!!!
528664
This site tells you, I just searched u.s. motto and this was the first site. Hopes it helps.\n\nhttp://www.coinresource.com/articles/in_god_we_trust.htm
796060
You ask a good question.  Now I believe you know there is not enough if any gold in fort Knox to back up our money.\n\nWhy does one think money means anything.  One may play games with it all day.\n\nYou are correct in many things you have said; but I wonder why most people think that the United States of America is not in prophecy (prediction) of what is to happen about us?  I have read Revelations many times and the more one reads it the more one realizes > WHAT?   Watch and Pray.  1+1+1=1
360060
That is a touchy subject, but I know one thing when I was in school we had prayer.  You didn't know who was against it or not, we just did it.  It seems like to me ever since they took it out of the schools there has been a whole lot of killings, stabbings, shootings, and disrespect for one another.  I think if we  bring it back it will make people think before the act, and maybe put the fear of God in some.  If they can keep it on our money, it certainly wouldn't hurt to put it back in the schools.  You don't hear the non-believer's complaining about take "In God We Trust" off our currency.  Why is that?  Moreover, money is the root of Evil.  I say we take "In God We Trust" of the money because it is not worthy to most who abuse it. Put it back in the schools with our children and let then decide.
1152436
The 2-cent coin was the first to bear the familiar US coin motto “In God We Trust.” The original Pollock proposal included a coin with the motto “God Our Trust.”  This was altered by Chase, likely because Brown University, from which Chase graduated, uses the motto “In Deo Speramus” or “In God we hope.”\n\nThere's more info at the web site below.
321966
It is NOT in the constitution, nor was it the intent of the framers of the constitution.  Jefferson wrote a letter to a person, pondering the question of a STATE RUN RELIGION and That is NOT what they wanted like England.  England has the church of England and many of the European countries at the time were tied to the catholic church.  The Framers wanted freedom of religion.  But Every single one of the Framers, had a GOD awareness, whether it be a deist in practise, or a believer in a Personal God. This is a concept which has been badly misused to take God out of the public.  It is a sorry state of affairs when the pledge of allegiance or the dollar bill or the ten commandments is threatened to be shredded from the very nation which core principles are founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs.   An apologist for non-fictionalized history,,,
456772
America is a secular country.  The main religion is the worship of the almighty dollar!\n\nThe United States has no official religion.  In contrast to the United Kingdom, in which the head of state is also head of the established church, the United States has a separation of church and state.  Freedom of religion is a fundamental constitional doctrine.\n\nHowever, Christianity is certainly the majority religion.  The United States has a more actively religious population than many other western democracies, especially the UK.
688037
We have a government that is supposedly "for the people, by the people". So I guess that if the majority of the people want religion as part of their government, it should be. We shouldn't seclude people of other faiths, though, and there is where the problem lies. Our founding fathers ensured us freedom of religion, and what that means entirely in the eye of the beholder-in this case, the eyes of the majority of American people and voters. It would eliminate alot of problems to completely remove all religious aspects from government, to completely separate church from state (including the "In God we trust"), but there are many people out there to which religion is a huge part of their lives and would hate that. I myself am a Buddhist in the Air Force, and I have to deal with Christian-specific prayers and events regularly, but I'm not very bothered by it, and consider it just part of our "Freedom of Religion".
31554
Its' not America that wants to take God out of our country.  It's just a small group of people making a big deal of it.
48237
Applying to Americans suggests enforcement through seclular law. One of the foundations of the US was a separation of church and state to preserve religious freedom. Today there are numerous religions within the US and all must be protected under the constitution. People who are atheists deserve equal protection as well.\n\nSecular laws can only enforce certain actions such as making people recite prayers but they can never enforce belief.\n\n\nBTW I'm not Christian and I really didn't intend originaly to post here but decided to any. My purpose for jumping into this question relates to your answer to Kissie101's question "Can I be a Christian and not believe in God". \n\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AimLrui_HsTJrOhvkDI.FJnsy6IX?qid=1006012205244\n\nI was very impressed with your answer in its thoughtfulness and compassion for Kissie after so many rude comments from others. I was pretty pissed off at that point and about to write a nasty response to all of them. My impression is that kissie101 is very young and her question was sincere. you handled it well.\n\nRegards,\n\nRascal
1071174
That's propbably when the ACLU was formed.  This country was formed on the basis of freedom of religion.  All the these organizations that think they're making it better are destroying all that our Founders fought for.  \n\nFunny "In God We Trust" is still on the money for now.  All those agencies sure do accept that money from the gov't.  What hypocrites!!!!
1077753
The government is not going to take the words "under God out of the Pledge of Allegiance.  At least not right away.\n\nThe Humanist (Atheist, Agnostic, Deist, Unitarian, whatever) groups want the words removed from the pledge.  The belief in God by the majority of Americans interferes with their (the humanists) religious beliefs.\n\nThe "wall of seperation between church and state" is a non issue.  It is not in the constitution, and is a phrse taken out of context from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson who was not even a framer of the constitution.  Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from exposure to religion.