50th anniversary of In "God" We Trust

From Charles Haynes as printed in the C-J...

[There are] no big celebrations [this month], the 50th anniversary of the appearance of "In God We Trust" on our paper currency. After all, most Americans barely notice the phrase -- until, of course, someone tries to take it away....Polls consistently tell us that the vast majority of people want to keep the phrase on the money.

Even many Americans who aren't especially religious identify with descriptions of a nation "under God" and take comfort in singing "God Bless America," which seems to have become the unofficial national anthem.

Court decisions reflect this popular acceptance of references to deity in the motto, the Pledge of Allegiance and elsewhere. Labeled "mere ceremonial deism" by some Supreme Court justices, these mentions of God are usually treated by courts as little more than acknowledgments of our history with little or no religious significance. In other words, we're told that "In God We Trust" doesn't "establish" religion because it isn't really religious.

Of course, the Supreme Court is/was correct here. The god of "In God We Trust" is the god of civil religion, not the Trinitarian God of the Bible. (As Douglas Wilson once said, if you think it is, try asking people if they want to add the word Trinitarian to the pledge!) This deity is the tame and tepid god of cultural Christianity (and Judaism)-- something that is less religious than traditional and cultural. This god calls us to behave ourselves (mostly) and to be modestly patriotic, to pay our taxes and to otherwise support the State. Although some people may mean God as they say the pledge or look at the back of their money, the vast majority implicitly refer to this other god.

Of course, this clever way around the First Amendment's establishment clause doesn't satisfy true believers on either side. Strict separationists continue to battle against any government appropriation of God. And many Christian conservatives continue to push for government to acknowledge God -- and really mean it....

From a Biblical worldview, I wouldn't devote resources to getting rid of it, but I wouldn't shed a tear at its removal either. Too many people think that they're Christians, confusing cultural (counterfeit) Christianity with the biblical (true) variety. And what's more difficult than trying to convince someone that they're not something they already think that they are?

At the height of the Cold War, when many feared the threat of atheistic communism, "under God" was added to the Pledge in 1954, and "In God We Trust" was made the national motto in 1956 -- and put on paper currency a year later.

Haynes reminds us of the recent history of the deistic insertions before moving to his punchline:

Trusting in God is an act of faith, not a national slogan. State proclamations of "In God We Trust" -- on money, classroom walls, license plates or anywhere else -- do nothing to make people (including politicians) actually trust in God. And proclaiming it ever louder (or getting the government to proclaim it ever louder) will never persuade anyone to do what faith requires.