In his second installment of a three-part series on "In God We Trust" for Rewire News, FFRF’s Director of Strategic Response Andrew L. Seidel delivers a broadside against the national motto. His first article, on the history of this Christian nationalist motto, left a big unanswered question: How did a country that was the first to separate state and church get stuck with a motto that is so obviously and overtly religious? Seidel now gives us the answer:
Government officials in this country are not allowed to use public offices to promote their personal religion. So how is it that the officials are legally allowed to slap “In God We Trust” on our money, on the Capitol, and in our public schools?
It’s because courts have said that the religious motto is not, well, religious.
Read the rest of Seidel’s article here.
This article is oneof a three-part series Seidel is writing for Rewire. The first told the story of precisely how “In God We Trust” got on our money and became the national motto. It’s a haunting tale of Christian nationalism that Seidel narrates at greater length in his book, The Founding Myth. The final article will expose Project Blitz, the Christian nationalist crusade to get the godly motto into our public schools.