{"id":1320,"date":"2026-06-06T04:35:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1320"},"modified":"2026-06-06T04:35:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:35:28","slug":"how-in-god-we-trust-ended-up-on-our-currency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1320","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018In God We Trust\u2019 ended up on our currency"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OPINION:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Secularists intent on feigning that God has no place in the political and cultural spheres are often faced with some uncomfortable rebuttals and realities.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump vows relief for struggling farmers at Wisconsin roundtable<\/a><\/p>\n

Among them, \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d is a slogan and proclamation that has long been emblazoned on American currency. And while debate has centered around its presence, few likely know the story behind how it unfolded \u2014 and why it matters.<\/p>\n

Jon Brown of The Christian Post recently delved deep into the background of Matthew Rothert Sr., a Presbyterian furniture manufacturer from Arkansas who, after feeling compelled in 1953 to get \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d on paper currency, embarked on that very journey.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that Rothert was in a Chicago church on June 21, 1953, when he felt the Holy Spirit give him the idea to get the slogan placed on paper bills. At the time, it was already present on U.S. coins \u2014 something that started nearly 100 years earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019In God We Trust\u2019 was first added to U.S. coins during the beginning of the Civil War, when religious sentiment was on an upswing and concerned Americans wanted the world to know what their country stood for,\u201d Sarah Begley wrote in Newsweek in 2016. \u201cMany wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase on the matter, and he agreed with their arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first coin was released in 1864, with \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d being adapted from a verse in Francis Scott Key\u2019s \u201cStar-Spangled Banner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, it was a preacher who reportedly sparked the motto being on coinage. Mark Richards Watkinson, who ran a small church near Philadelphia, wrote a letter to Chase expressing his desire to see America acknowledge the Lord amid the Civil War.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are about to submit your annual report to Congress respecting national finances. One fact has been overlooked,\u201d Watkinson wrote. \u201cI mean recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins. What if our Republic were now shattered? Would not antiquaries of succeeding centuries reason from our past that we were a heathen nation?<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my heart I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chase took action and directed the Mint to adopt the slogan It was first applied to bronze 2-cent pieces in 1864. Another fun fact is that the director of the U.S. Mint at the time was James Pollock, a Presbyterian minister who also helped make the slogan happen.<\/p>\n

Over the years, debate followed \u201cIn God We Trust,\u201d and it was removed and reapplied to currency. Yet by 1908, it was back on and remains on U.S. coins today.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump is on the edge of historic victory in Iran<\/a><\/p>\n

Many decades after the coinage issue was settled, Rothert found himself wondering why the same treatment wasn\u2019t given to paper money. After the Holy Spirit prompted him to act, he went on quite a journey, according to his daughter, Alice Rothert Nelson \u2014 one that began in the pews that fateful day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collection plate was going around, and he felt God tell him that the coins had \u2019In God We Trust,\u2019 but it was the bills that went all around the world,\u201d Ms. Rothert Nelson recently told Mr. Brown. \u201cAnd he believed he should get \u2019In God We Trust\u2019 on the bills of the paper money, and so that started the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothert\u2019s advocacy involved letters, speeches and passionate pleas to persuade people of the importance of the U.S. putting the slogan on paper currency. Ultimately, Rothert believed God had sent him on a mission to make it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord seemed to tell me to do this,\u201d he told the National Enquirer in 1987. \u201cHe put the idea so strongly in my mind that I worked on it until I accomplished my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothert continued, \u201cI realized the circulation of American coins was limited to the boundaries of the country, while U.S. paper money circulated worldwide. It looked like Americans were saying they trusted in God only a few cents\u2019 worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

His efforts paid off. After working with politicians and ceaselessly advocating, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill in 1955 that brought \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d to paper currency, with the first bills bearing the slogan appearing just two years later in 1957.<\/p>\n

Hope Rothert Taft, another of Rothert\u2019s daughters, who served as first lady of Ohio from 1999 to 2007, told Mr. Brown that the central lesson of her father\u2019s efforts is God\u2019s ability to accomplish anything through His people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI use it as an encouragement to let people know that they can make a difference,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter where they come from or what size of a family, or whether they\u2019re well-known or not. They can make a difference, like my father did.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, Rothert\u2019s efforts serve to also remind us, via our currency, of the supernatural source of our freedom and liberty \u2014 and that\u2019s certainly something to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN\u2019s \u201cQuick Start Podcast.\u201d Mr. Hallowell is also the author of four books.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Great American State Fair has new act: Big rally, Lee Greenwood, military music groups<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In God We Trust” is a slogan and proclamation that has long been emblazoned on American currency. 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