Why affirm ‘In God we trust’?

Now that the United States has achieved full employment, solved the debt crisis and shored up Social Security for the next 100 years, we can move on to less pressing matters.

Wait a minute, we haven’t actually solved any of those things. Yet we’re moving on to less-pressing matters anyway. What’s going on?

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives spent a good bit of time debating a resolution reaffirming “In God We Trust” as the official national motto. (Are you surprised that the vote was 396-9 in favor of the motto?)

That’s right - rather than deal with pressing matters like, say, the dire state of the national economy, the House would rather spend its time reminding everyone that it loves God.

Is there something going on that spurred this resolution? Is “In God We Trust” under attack in the courts? Is someone trying to remove it from the money?

Nope. Now, lawsuits have been filed against the use of this phrase on currency and as the national motto. But that was a long time ago, and all of them failed. Congress’ endorsement of the phrase Nov. 1 was just gratuitous. It may also have had political implications, being yet another attempt by the Republican Party to bash the Democrats with a “culture war” issue. (If so, it failed miserably. The Democrats refused to take the bait.)

“In God We Trust” became the national motto is 1956 at the height of the Cold War. It was slap against those Godless commies. The fact that it was as bland and generic an endorsement of faith as one could get was actually seen as a plus. Remember, it was President Dwight D. Eisenhower who once is reported to have remarked, “Our government makes no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith - and I don’t care what it is.”

So make no mistake, I’m no fan of a motto that divides Americans along religious lines. With polls showing increasing numbers of Americans expressing skepticism about the existence of God or defining God in non-traditional ways, the motto is increasingly polarizing.

The fact is, we had perfectly good unofficial motto for a long time. “E Plubus Unum” (“Out of Many, One”) appears on the Great Seal of the United States, which was codified in 1782. That phrase really encapsulates what the United States is about. It celebrates that we are a diverse nation, a people drawn from many backgrounds who are united as Americans.

I’d like to see us get back to the spirit of “E Pluribus Unum,” but I also know that the current legislative fetish for what some scholars call “civil religion” makes that well nigh impossible. The resolution’s sponsor, U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), wants to see us plaster the motto on every public building. Forbes reduces the phrase to a type of talisman; if you cling to it hard enough, it will ward off evil.

Interestingly, one member of the House dared to resist this objectification of these four words. U.S. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), the only Republican to vote no, said this on Facebook: “The fear that unless ‘In God We Trust’ is displayed throughout the government, Americans will somehow lose their faith in God, is a dim view of the profound religious convictions many citizens have. Trying to score political points with unnecessary resolutions should not be Congress’s priority.”

Congratulations, Rep. Amash. You get it. You get both the threat that mere sloganeering presents to authentic faith and the offensiveness of political manipulation of religion. The hypocrisy is all the more staggering when one remembers that it was just about a year ago that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) blasted symbolic resolutions as a waste of Congress’ time. He singled out ones dealing with sports teams as an example.

“The Republicans who make up our new majority did not run for Congress…to spend our time congratulating collegiate basketball teams for having a good season -- even if we happened to be a fan,” Cantor wrote in an op-ed distributed by AOL News.

So, the St. Louis Cardinals are out, but Congress always has time for God.

The House could learn a thing or two from President Theodore Roosevelt. The old Rough Rider opposed putting “In God We Trust” on coins, remarking, “To put such a motto on coins or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege.”

Amen. Only Teddy didn’t go far enough. Using religious resolutions for displays of false piety, to fire a salvo at political opponents or to foster another “culture war” doesn’t come “dangerously close” to sacrilege. It is sacrilege.

Barry W. Lynn  | Nov 2, 2011 2:09 PM