Reuters - Atheist Sues Over "In God We Trust" on Money

November 18, 2005

A Californian atheist who has fought a series of legal battles seeking to bar religious references from American public life sued on Friday to remove the phrase "In God We Trust" from U.S. money and coins.

Michael Newdow, the plaintiff in the case, is an emergency room doctor with legal training known for an ongoing fight to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance recited in public schools.

"'In God We Trust' on the coins and currency serves as a form of religious evangelism," he wrote in his filing to U.S. federal court in Sacramento.

Newdow wrote that he finds it "deeply offensive to have his government and its agents advocating for a religious view he specifically decries."

The 162-page lawsuit named the United States of America, the Congress and several U.S. officials as defendants.

"This lawsuit is another attempt to use the legal system to remove a legitimate reference to the religious heritage of America," said Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, which will represent Congress members in the suit.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, "In God We Trust" has appeared on all U.S. currency since the mid 1960s; it first appeared on coins in the 19th century.

"This use of the national motto has been challenged in court many times over the years that it has been in use, and has been consistently upheld by the various courts of this country, including the U.S. Supreme Court as recently as 1977," the bureau says on its web site.

"The Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice intend to actively defend against challenges to the use of the national motto."

Just on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to reconsider a lower court ruling that the words "In God We Trust" on the front of a North Carolina government building do not violate church-state separation.