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February 5, 2012 at 10:28 am 
Al Stefanelli To discriminate against a thoroughly upright citizen because he belongs to some particular Church, or because, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any Church, is an outrage against the liberty of conscience which is one of the foundations of American life. – Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt was a Christian, a Republican and a Sunday school teacher. However, he was also staunchly in favor of the separation of church and state. While taking the oath of office during his inauguration, he did not swear on the Bible. When the $20 gold coin was designed in 1907, the words “In God We Trust” were not present because Roosevelt said it was irreverent to have the words printed on the coins because the money was used to buy worldly goods and services.
On November 14, 1907, the New York Times ran an article on how President Theodore Roosevelt said ”In God We Trust” on coins is irreverent and close to sacrilege. He stated that, “No law commands it use,” and that he trusted Congress would not direct him to replace it. Congress eventually passed legislation requiring “In God We Trust” be restored to all of our coins.
Teddy Sends A Letter…
Roosevelt wrote a letter to a man named William Boldly on November 11, 1907, where he wrote,
“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…”
Now, as I said, TR was a believer. A dyed-in-the-wool Christian and former Sunday school teacher who was committed to his faith and attended church regularly. However, he did understand the meaning and importance of Jefferson’s wall of separation, and how keeping religion and government separate was tantamount to being an American. To wit,
“I hold that in this country there must be complete severance of Church and State; that public moneys shall not be used for the purpose of advancing any particular creed; and therefore that the public schools shall be non-sectarian and no public moneys appropriated for sectarian schools.”Theodore Roosevelt, Address, New York, October 12, 1915
And,
“Discrimination against the holder of one faith means retaliatory discrimination against men of other faiths. The inevitable result of entering upon such a practise would be an abandonment of our real freedom of conscience and a reversion to the dreadful conditions of religious dissensions which in so many lands have proved fatal to true liberty, to true religion, and to all advance in civilization.”
And,
“To discriminate against a thoroughly upright citizen because he belongs to some particular church, or because, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any church, is an outrage against the liberty of conscience, which is one of the foundations of American life.” - Roosevelt’s letter on religious liberty.
Read It Yourself…
Here’s a link to the PDF file. In case it isn’t working, here’s a digital image of the actual article:
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This is a great article! Thanks for posting. I learned quite a lot.
In god we
trustdon’t believe.That reminded me that I have actual money in my wallet for once that I need to deface. Whee!
Mr. Assistant Secretary of the Splendid Little War does occasionally have his moments. I certainly wish the purported choir would heed his preaching.
First off a big thanks Al….I have been a bit of a fan of Teddy for a while because of other stuff (like his anti predatory corporations and anti muckraking media stances, internationalsm, etc), but never knew this….another gold star for Ted, and thanks for the education.
Next up…picking up on Michaelbrew’s comment….if you disagree with that stupid phrase on your money why not just get a marker pen and redact it CIA stylee….sort of a small personal protest? Ah…hang on…bet its a crime in the US to do that.
Personally, I always thought that a more appropriate phrase for the Prosperity Gospel loving GOP goons was IN WAD WE TRUST
Surprisingly, it’s not. Defacing money is only illegal if done so for fraudulent purposes. Redacting “In God We Trust” would not be an attempt to alter the apparent value of the bill.
I don’t know all the details of the code that pertains to mutilation of currency, but I’m pretty sure it all revolves around the having fraudulent intent. For example, there are machines where you drop in a couple of quarters and a penny and turn a crank. The machine drops the penny on to a press that is turned by the crank and the penny in flattened and imprinted with some engraving. The result is called an “elongated coin”. You might see one of these at an amusement park or at a tourist attraction, etc.
It’s interesting to me that this site it’s for “free thinkers” yet it spouts ani-God propaganda such as this Article.
Point in case…when one choses to read the copy of the Newspaper provided its made clear the reason why President Roosevelt was against having In God We Trust engraved…it is described in paragraph 3.
There may be some anti-god “propaganda” around here, but most of it is anti-god-in-the-government “propaganda”. Most atheists don’t have a problem with other people being free to worship as they see fit. Don’t get me wrong, I think a lot of atheists would prefer a religion-free world, but as it stands most of us just want our government to stay out of religion and, more importantly, for religion to stay out of our government.
To say that “In God We Trust” is our national motto alienates a lot of people in one way or another. Atheists don’t believe in god. Deists don’t believe in an interventionist god (therefore there’s nothing in which to place your trust). Pantheists believe that god is nature or something like that. I suppose they could trust that nature (and thus god) will provide for them, but not in the way that “In God We Trust” suggests. Any polytheistic religion worships more than one deity, so the singular “God” cuts them out, too.
In short, the gov’t needs to remain religiously neutral. Doing otherwise, in almost all cases, will violate the Establishment Clause in some way or another.
TR did use a Bible when he took his second oath of office.
@Den (of iniquity?) “ani-God propaganda”
We don’t spout propaganda for any god.
(btw re ‘ani’: you should check a dictionary for the spelling of that word.)
Re: Den’s response
Try “is” instead of “it’s” and “anti” instead of “ani” in your first paragraph Also “case in point,” “chooses,” and “it’s” work much better in your second paragraph.
When you respond to an article by completely missing the point, you should at least make an attempt be literate.
Re: Den’s response
[darn that sticky period key!]
Try “is” instead of “it’s” and “anti” instead of “ani” in your first paragraph. Also “case in point,” “chooses,” and “it’s” work much better in your second paragraph.
When you respond to an article by completely missing the point, you should at least make an attempt be literate.
I was going to share this. But after reading the actual newspaper article I didn’t. This article takes the point Roosevelt was making out of context.
He thought the motto was to precious to put on our money and should be used on more important things such as monuments and statues. Paragraphs three and four share this information.
I pointed this out in the commentary, and it is a well-known fact as well. Roosevelt differentiated between fixed memorials, statues, etc. I doubt, given the climate of the times, the concept of separation of church and state was even considered with respect to buildings, structures, etc. Money, however, appears to have a different status – at least according to TR. For whatever reason, though, and by virtue of several quotes to the same effect, Roosevelt was a proponent of the socas.
The concept of the separation of church and state is just as valid when it comes from a religous background as a secular one. There will always be a different understanding of where to draw the line between the two. That is the role of the courts.
I do not live in the US, nor am I a historian, but I strongly suspect that the line was in a different place in 1907 than it is a century later.
[...] a Sunday school teacher, and a Republican… those days are long gone.Al Stefanelli has a nice screenshot of the November 14th, 1907 New York Times article about Roosevelt’s letter, along with further analysis:How long do we have to wait until an [...]
[...] 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. [...] It seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins, just as it would cheapen it to use it on postage stamps or in advertisements. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) US President (1901-1909)Letter, New York Times (14 Nov 1907) On the use of "In God We Trust" on coins. Roosevelt was in favor, however, of using it on monuments and buildings. Full text. [...]