Teddy Roosevelt on money, mottoes, and trust

Our church has been focusing on the topic of money in its sermons and study groups for the past several weeks.  Today's sermon started out with some facts I hadn't known before about the history of the motto that appears on all proper examples of today's United States money.

First, a very condensed history.  The phrase “In God We Trust” was first used on U.S. money during the American Civil War, on the 2-cent coin.  Its use on other coins followed.  Laws in 1865 and 1873 allowed the phrase to be used on U.S. coins.  (I guess there was no law forbidding the use of the phrase on the 1864 2-cent piece!)  A law in 1908 required the use of the phrase on U.S. coinage, and by 1938 all coins had the phrase.  A law requiring both coins and currency to bear the phrase was enacted in 1954.  In 1956, a law made “In God We Trust” the official U.S. National Motto.  By 1966 and all years thereafter, all U.S. money had the phrase.  (Godless dollars don't count.  They were errors.)

Teddy Roosevelt takes a stand

On introduction of a new $10 gold piece in 1907, President Roosevelt instructed the Mint not to include the words “In God We Trust” in the design.  He responded to the ensuing criticism in a public letter, published in the New York Times on November 13th, 1907.  From the letter (emphasis mine):

“When the question of the new coinage came up we looked into the law and found there was no warrant therein for putting ‘In God We Trust' on the coins.  As the custom, although without legal warrant, had grown up, however, I might have felt at liberty to keep the inscription had I approved of its being on the coinage.  But as I did not approve of it I did not direct that it should again be put on . . . . ”

“My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that 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.  A beautiful and solemn sentence such as the one in question should be treated and uttered only with that fine reverence which necessarily implies a certain exaltation of spirit.”

“Any use which tends to cheapen it, and, above all, any use which tends to secure its being treated in a spirit of levity, is from every standpoint profoundly to be regretted . . . .“

(From a letter of President Theodore Roosevelt, published November 13th, 1907, in the New York Times)

It's clear that President Roosevelt's aim was not to box God in or exclude God, but to keep God at the proper level of respect and reverence.

In whom (or in what) do you trust?

There are over 2300 verses in the Bible that deal with money but one that is closely related to this issue is Matthew 6:24:

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”  (Matthew 6:24, New International Version)

So, even though “In God We Trust” is on every piece of money that flows through our hands, do we actually trust God?  Or do we trust the security and the power that we see as coming from the money itself?  Is the phrase “In God We Trust” now so commonplace that we don't even really think about it much anymore?

I'm a Christian.  I must confess that I do take comfort in what wealth I'm currently enjoying, and that's wrong.  Everything that is “mine” really isn't mine.  It's God's.  Trusting in my “stuff” instead of in God is idolatry.  There is no room for trusting God and trusting something else too.  But like anything related to a spiritual walk, it's a process of prayer and relationship-building to gain greater trust in God and lesser trust in money and the things of this world.

Not just “In God We Trust” but “In God Alone We Trust.”