what_happened: ii

10.

WHAT HAPPENED: PART II

Your author has searched the records for official government-
sponsored doctrine regarding the nature of God prior to the addition of “In God We Trust” to the two-cent coin in 1864...and found nothing.

To be clear:

From the adoption of the Constitution in 1787 to the initial use of "In God We Trust" on the U.S. two-cent coin in 1864 -- a period of seventy-seven years -- there existed no sanctioned, official, state-
sponsored doctrine regarding God in use anywhere by the United States government.

Americans during the first 77 years of the Republic were free to hold their own opinions about God under a secular republic, without interference of any kind by the state.

After 1864 “In God We Trust” spread considerably: it was added to other coins, and molded on the faces of public buildings. Thanks to Rev. Watkinson, 1864 is the earliest extant date for the inaug-
uration of a particular and specific version of American theocracy -- a government theology that God is a monotheistic entity worthy of human trust.² There it pretty much stood for the next ninety-three years. Then, suddenly, at the end of World War II -- all heaven broke loose!

² In clear violation of the Establishment clause, “In God We Trust” creates a particular and
distinct religious tenet by postulating a specific type of deity which elicits trust in human beings.
Many Americans of faith, among them American pantheists and Buddhists, practice their religion
without a God in whom they place their trust. The chosen faith of these loyal citizens is violated
each time they buy a loaf of bread using American currency or coinage.