RESPONSIBILITY

“IN GOD WE TRUST”, became the final motto emblazoned on U.S. coins, in response to ordinary people recognizing God in a more profound and thoughtful way. The Civil War of 1861 prompted much religious sentiment and appeals by ordinary people to recognize God on United States coins in order to, as Rev. M. R. Watkinson, Minister of the Gospel from Ridleyville Pennsylvania wrote, “place us openly under the divine protection we have personally claimed. From my heart I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our national disasters”.

In response to all these letters, Treasury Secretary, Salmon P. Chase wrote, “No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.” The will and thoughts of the people took hold and the new coins became a reality by 1864.

In 1956 when Dwight Eisenhower, the President of the United States, declared, “IN GOD WE TRUST”, as the NATIONAL Motto of the United States, it was perhaps an additional declaration that God will not be forgotten in the makeup of American history. This declaration began the 1957 implementation of the motto on all paper currency.

I am not a historian, and am certainly incapable of giving American history lessons. I am certainly not  qualified as a writer either. However, I write this for every person in every country, because I truly believe it holds universal truths about us as people. If we are to grow we must acknowledge the need for God’s work within us as individuals. The coins are a symbol and a reminder of this gift… gift with responsibility!

I cannot exit this page without a quote from Dwight Eisenhower’s Farewell Address of 1961.

“You and I-my fellow citizens-need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the nation’s great goals.

To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America’s prayerful and continuing aspiration:

We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to  the needs of others will learn charity;  that the scourges of poverty, disease, and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth: and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love”.

 What is my responsibility to keep “IN GOD WE TRUST” alive? …What is yours?

See you next time...God willing. God bless!