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American History

By Jerry Faught the new World trade center. i then walked across the street America’s religious freedom
Finding God in
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
has not prevented us from
making public statements
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 about our reliance upon God.
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 during the terrible days of the civil War. religious fervor
the pictures and other memorabilia. among americans had increased during the crisis of war.
that’s when i saw a sign indicating that george secretary of the treasury salmon p. chase received many
Washington, our nation’s first president, had been inaugu- appeals from pious persons throughout the country urg-
rated in st. paul’s in 1789. i walked over to a bench called ing the government to honor god on united states coins.
Washington’s pew where he knelt to pray during his inaugu- congress passed an act on april 22, 1864 that allowed “in
ral service. as i exited the church, i surmised that the pew god We trust” to first appear on the 1864 two-cent coin. the
and the chapel itself stood as a monument of hope in a con- phrase later appeared on other coins.
fusing and chaotic world. the phrase “in god We trust” does not only appear on
that experience reminded me that god shows up in a big coins. in 1956 president eisenhower approved a law passed
way throughout the history of our nation. let’s discover a by congress declaring “in god We trust” to be our national
few of the significant ways that our nation has expressed its motto. a year later the phrase was found on paper money
dependence upon god.
for the first time when it appeared on the one-dollar silver
certificate.
Religious freedom doesn’t mean no religion another famous american phrase mentioning god comes
virtually all the men involved in the founding of our nation from the pledge of allegiance and is recited daily by millions
believed in god. although some were Deists who believed that of schoolchildren around the country. the pledge was origi-
god did not intervene directly in the world, most of the found- nally written in 1892 by a baptist minister named Francis
ing fathers were protestant christians. these leaders realized, bellamy (1855-1931). in 1953, the roman catholic fraternal
however, that making christianity or any other religion the service organization, the Knights of columbus, mounted a
official or established religion of the nation would not be campaign to add the words “under god” to the pledge. at the
© istockphoto / john kropewnicki state. that is why congress
healthy for religion or the
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
the beginning of the year, all of our land.
although we americans
America witnessed the inauguration have prized religious free-
At of our country’s 44th president, dom, this has not prevented
us from making public
Barack Obama. As he took the oath of office, he statements about our reli-
ance upon god. take out a
declared that he would execute faithfully the coin from your pocket or

duties of his office with God’s help. purse, and you will see the © istockphoto / lee pettet
motto “in god We trust.”
these words were placed on
united states coins

18 | jul 2009 ec magazine ec magazine jul 2009 | 19