Atheist Group Sues Congress To Remove "In God We Trust" From Currency

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a lawsuit demanding that "In God We Trust" be removed from all US currency. 

The plaintiffs' claim that the motto is offensive and forces atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, freethinkers and skeptics to bear a religious message they don't agree with, and are thus forced, when using U.S. currency, to make a false declaration regarding their religious views. According to Dan Barker, co-president of the Wisconsin-based FFRF, a nonprofit organization that represents atheists and agnostics, the majority of Americans believe the motto sends a religious message out to everyone who collects or uses U.S. currency.

"[In God We Trust] is indeed considered to be a religious phrase," Barker said in an interview with The Christian Post on Thursday. "The message belongs in churches, private institutions and can be shared by missionaries. But who is the 'we' representing, if not all of us trust in a God?" Barker believes that recent survey responses show one out of every five Americans is not a believer, and the motto is forcing nonbelievers to proselytize for monotheism when they travel overseas and exchange U.S. currency for local money.

This has been tried tree times before. "In God We Trust" was added to currency in 1864 during the Civil War.  In 1956 it replaced "E Pluribus Unum" as the official motto of the United States during the height of the Cold War as a slap against communism. The phrase is thought to have originated in the fourth (never sung) stanza of The Star-Spangled Banner.