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Religious freedom doesn’t mean no religion
the beginning of the year, all of
America witnessed the inauguration
of our country’s 44th president,
Barack Obama. As he took the oath of office, he
declared that he would execute faithfully the
duties of his office with God’s help.
At
18  |  jul 2009  ec  magazine
Virtually all the men involved in the founding of our nation
believed in God. Although some were Deists who believed that
God did not intervene directly in the world, most of the found-
ing fathers were Protestant Christians. These leaders realized,
however, that making Christianity or any other religion the
official or established religion of the nation would not be
healthy for religion or the
state. That is why Congress
passed the First Amendment
to the Constitution which
prohibits the government
from establishing or favoring
any religion and protects the
free exercise of religion in
our land.
Although we Americans
have prized religious free-
dom, this has not prevented
us from making public
statements about our reli-
ance upon God. Take out a
coin from your pocket or
purse, and you will see the
motto “In God We Trust.”
These words were placed on
United States coins
America’s religious freedom
has not prevented us from
making public statements
about our reliance upon God.
during the terrible days of the Civil War. Religious fervor
among Americans had increased during the crisis of war.
Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many
appeals from pious persons throughout the country urg-
ing the government to honor God on United States coins.
Congress passed an act on April 22, 1864 that allowed “In
God We Trust” to first appear on the 1864 two-cent coin. The
phrase later appeared on other coins.
The phrase “In God We Trust” does not only appear on
coins. In 1956 President Eisenhower approved a law passed
by Congress declaring “In God We Trust” to be our national
motto. A year later the phrase was found on paper money
for the first time when it appeared on the one-dollar silver
certificate.
Another famous American phrase mentioning God comes
from the pledge of allegiance and is recited daily by millions
of schoolchildren around the country. The pledge was origi-
nally written in 1892 by a Baptist minister named Francis
Bellamy (1855-1931). In 1953, the Roman Catholic fraternal
service organization, the Knights of Columbus, mounted a
campaign to add the words “under God” to the Pledge. At the
Jerry
History
The last phrase of the oath—“so help me God”—reminded
me of my trip to New York City just a few weeks earlier. I had
traveled by bus to Ground Zero to see the work being done on
the new World Trade Center. I then walked across the street
to visit St. Paul’s Chapel. St. Paul’s, built in 1766, miraculously
survived the collapse of the twin towers on September 11,
2001. For eight months after the tragedy, this church served
as a place for volunteer relief workers to eat and rest. Inside
the chapel, I saw pictures of many who died in the terrorist
attack. A feeling of deep sadness came over me as I looked at
the p
­ ictures and other memorabilia.
That’s when I saw a sign indicating that George
Washington, our nation’s first president, had been inaugu-
rated in St. Paul’s in 1789. I walked over to a bench called
Washington’s Pew where he knelt to pray during his inaugu-
ral service. As I exited the church, I surmised that the pew
and the chapel itself stood as a monument of hope in a con-
fusing and chaotic world.
That experience reminded me that God shows up in a big
way throughout the history of our nation. Let’s discover a
few of the significant ways that our nation has expressed its
dependence upon God.
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