In God We Trust

The House of Representatives is considering House Concurrent Resolution 13 which states that, the Senate concurring, “Congress reaffirms ‘In God We Trust’ as the official motto of the United States and supports and encourages the public display of the national motto in all public buildings, public schools, and other government institutions.”

The resolution provides a fairly long list of “whereas” justifications, most of which are simply fact and others, perhaps, one could argue with.

You’d think we weren’t $14 trillion (yes that’s trillion with a “T”) in debt that the House has time to worry about this kind of stuff.

Considering that the courts have already decided that “In God We Trust” is not unconstitutional, I have to wonder about the point of this resolution.

I disagree with that decision.

As I’ve said before, I think this is a case where one has to consider intent, and in this case the clear intent is for “God” to refer to the Christian God and the Christian God alone. Therefore the reference is inexorably entangled with the Christian Religion and is therefore unconstitutional.

The fact that I might be right is, of course, irrelevant. The chances of every court, up to and including the Supreme Court, acknowledging that are somewhere between zero and nonexistent.

I have yet to hear a convincing argument as to why “In God We Trust” is constitutional other than what amounts to a historical precedence argument. If historical precedence arguments were valid, then blacks would still be segregated and women wouldn’t be able to vote.