In God We Trust
It is commonly understood that our Government, its Constitution and its laws are founded on a belief in God. The mere acknowledgment of God by the Government or Government officials cannot be said to be an establishment of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. Yet this is precisely what is being litigated right now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Dr. Michael Newdow has sued the United States Congress in order to remove our National Motto. In his view, these four words constitute the establishment of a national religion in the United States of America. We think Dr. Newdow is wrong. We are expressing our opposition through an amicus brief that’s being prepared now to be filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In this brief, we represent 58 members of Congress as well as tens of thousands of citizens from around the country.
The founders of this nation based a national philosophy on a belief in deity. The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights locate the source of inalienable rights in a Creator rather than in Government, precisely so that such rights cannot be stripped away by Government. In 1782, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed the only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?” (Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia). The founders may have differed over the contours of the relationship between religion and government, but they never deviated from the conviction that there was an important and inseparable connection between the two.
The nation’s history is replete with examples of acknowledgment of religious belief in the public sector. Since the founding of the republic, American presidents have issued Thanksgiving proclamations establishing a national day of celebration and prayer. President Washington issued the first such proclamation at the request of the first Congress, in which he wrote that it is the “duty of all nations to acknowledge THE Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor.” He further recommended and assigned a day “to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all good that was, that is, or that will be … that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech him … To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue.”
Use of the slogan “In God We Trust” dates back to the War of 1812. In September of 1814, fearing for the fate of America while watching the British bombardment of Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, Francis Scott Key composed the poem, The Star-Spangled Banner, of which one line in the final stanza is “And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’” Congress codified the longstanding motto in 1956.
Our National Motto has served our country well. It accurately reflects the founders’ understanding of the nature of our liberties and freedoms. It would be an injustice if the liberties which secure our freedoms, as reflected in our National Motto, would be removed because of an offended observer. Yet with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and its record of decisions in religion cases, we do not take it for granted that this could be an outcome in this case. However, we put our trust not simply in the legal system, but in the providence of Almighty God and, in the words of Washington, “humbly implore His protection and favor” over our country.
