‘In God we trust’

In the recent past, the Bishop City Council took a vote to display the motto “In God We Trust”, at City Hall, thereby affirming what the

United States has established as a motto for over 200 years and as the motto of the country for over half of a century.

I stand in agreement with Bishop City Council. These people were modeling after the founders of our country and of our national legislators right into the 21st century.

I find that the preponderance of evidence of the founding fathers’ opinions and laws supported this motto our nation. The information text about the motto is taken directly from the U.S. Treasury:

The phrase originated in “The Star-Spangled Banner”, written during the War of 1812. The fourth stanza includes the phrase, “And this be our motto: ‘In God is our Trust.’”

Later, Treasury Secretary Salmon P.

Chase directed the then, Philadelphia director of the Mint, James Pollock, to draw up designs that would include this religious phrase.

As Chase was preparing his recommendation to Congress, it was found that the Act of Congress dated January 18, 1837, prescribed the mottoes and devices that should be placed upon the coins of the United States. This meant that the mint could make no changes without the enactment of additional legislation by the Congress, therefore legislation was introduced and passed on April 22, 1864, another Act of Congress passed on March 3, 1865, which allowed the Mint director, with the secretary’s approval, to place the motto on all gold and silver coins that “shall admit the inscription thereon.”

In 1873, Congress passed the Coinage Act, granting that the Secretary of the Treasury “may cause the motto IN GOD WE TRUST to be inscribed on such coins as shall admit of such motto.”

In 1956, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution to make the national motto “In God we trust,” which was signed into law by President Eisenhower on July 30, 1956. In 2006, on the 50th anniversary of its adoption, the

Senate reaffirmed “In God we trust” as the official national motto of the United States of America.

In 2011, the House of Representatives passed an additional resolution reaffirming “In God we trust” as the official motto of the United States, in a 396-9 vote.

Here is part of Thomas Jefferson’s “Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.”

“I. Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishment or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was his Almighty power to do . . .

II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”

Upon reading this document, one would get the idea that the author had begun his document with a reference to the authority for the statute and it this is found these phrases, “Almighty God”, secondly, “Holy author of our religion,” and thirdly,” who being Lord both of body and mind,” and fourthly, “as was his Almighty power to do . . .” It is plain to see that the authority set forth in section one for freedom of religion was established by Almighty God, at least that is what the author said… right?

This same author also wrote another interesting work, here is a quote of the complete first and second paragraphs:

“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Here he goes again, establishing this document’s authority with these phrases, “which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them” and secondly, “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” These are, of course, excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.

This same author gave us these remarks: “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time” and asked ‘Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are of God?’ Over and over, throughout his life, he trusted in the authority of the God of the Bible in establishing the law and governance of the United States.

It seems like he was one of those “In God We Trust” people?

Thomas Jefferson’s last statement of belief was hours before his death when he said, “I have done for my country, and for all mankind, all that I could do, and I now resign my soul, without fear, to my God”

He knew God was the final arbiter of all government but he did not want men in government controlling or adjudicating religion by their own opinion.

God he could fully trust, but man he could not trust. The God he trusted was the God of the Bible and no other.

(Don Barrett has been a resident of Bishop for 30 years and Mammoth since 1956.)