Interesting church/state fact. Useful for debating the issue.

[Taxloss]

The year the words "In God We Trust" first appeared on dollar bills was ....

(drum roll)

... 1956. During the Red Scare and McCarthyism.



Sorry if this is common knowledge. it was a revelation to me.


(Edited to correct boneheaded error)

[RPM]

1. don't forget....

... "In god we trust" was added just before that.

:eyes:

[Technowitch]

2. And "Under God" added to the Pledge then, too.

[Taxloss]

3. Gaaaah! Of course, that's what I mean.

Curse my rush to post.

Sorry, I'll edit it.

[AllegroRondo]

4. I think you mean "in god we trust"

which first appeared on paper money in 1957

it appeared on coins in 1862, during the civil war, to show that god was on the side of the union.


"one nation, under god" was added to the pledge of allegiance in 1957 or 58.

[clydefrand]

6. Just found this about the pledge.

In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.

http://history.vineyard.net/pledge.htm

[Walt Starr]

9. It only appeared on a single level of coin currency in 1862

The two cent piece was the only coin to show "in god we trust" in 1862. This was Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, weighing in on the subject with his "two cents worth".

[elemnopee]

5. Check out this book...

The Godless Constitution, The Case Against Religious Correctness

My Pepperdine (yes Ken Starr Pepperdine) POSC Professor required it for his class, the fundies in my class got pissed.

My favorite section is devoted to Religous leaders in the 1700's claiming the Constitution was creating a secular state because there was no religous test for public office.

[Selatius]

7. Don't we have an unofficial religious test for public office today???

I mean, can an Atheist or an Agnostic win an office in the House of Rep. or the Senate today? Are there any in Congress now?

[MindPilot]

11. It not UNoffical; there are actually seven states

(IIRC--I'm doing this off the top of my head here) which have clauses in their constitutions specificly banning Athiests from holding public office and one or two of those prohibit non-believers from jury service or even being a witness in court.

[elemnopee]

12. There still is no (official) federal test

Jefferson was an atheist, and all of our founding fathers were diests, despite what the fundies say.


There is also a good chance that Nixon's Quakerism was for show and he was actually an atheist.(but that proves your point about an unofficial test)

My main point was that there were so many religous leaders outraged that there was no religous test included in the constitution, they called America a secualr state.

[Taxloss]

10. I found it in "Greenback: The Almighty Dollar"

by Jason Goodwin.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/014029239X/qid=1103058943/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_1/026-6615428-9509247

An excellent, thourough and highly readable account.

[MindPilot]

8. the US was not a "Christian Nation" until the mid-fifties

That's when "under god" was added to the pledge, "in god we trust" showed up on the money and the old national motto "E Pluribus Unum" was recinded.

Another couple of little known factoids: Forcing school children to recite the Pledge was ruled unconstitutional in (IIRC) 1942 in a suit brought by (IIRC) a group of Mennonites who were opposed to government mandated oath-taking.

The no-prayer-in-school suit usually attributed to an Atheist--Madilyn Murry O'Hair--was in fact orginally brought by a Catholic who was opposed to Catholic children being required to recite a Protestant prayer.