Did We Lose Our Trust in God?

My wife received an urgent message today from a good, God-fearing friend. It alerted my wife to a pending crisis of faith in America. This message was addressed to the sender’s family and closest friends – dozens of people.

The pending crisis is an almighty omission: the United States, my wife was told, has just issued the first coin of the realm without the words “In God We Trust” engraved on it. A picture of the coin was included for easy verification of the Omission of Omissions.

The allegedly offending coin is the new golden Presidential $1 coin. The U.S. mint will issue four of these $1 coins each year, beginning this year. The first one bears the face of none other than George W. himself – Washington, that is, not Walker. Each president will be honored in due course. This coin replaces the less-than-beloved Sacagawea dollar, which replaced the even-less-beloved Susan B. Anthony dollar. After all, everybody loves the presidents.

The message of alarm being circulated says:

"Well, here is another thing for me to boycott – our first coin without ‘In God We Trust’ on it! I will refuse it! It does not have ‘In God We Trust’ on it – another way of leaving God out. Send this on and let consumers decide if it will win acceptance or not.”

There’s only one, small thing wrong with the message. It isn’t true. The words of concern are engraved on the edge of the coin, as can be seen at:
http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/index.cfm?action=Washington

This clarion call to boycott a coin is clearly one of those infamous emails that gets forwarded to thousands upon thousands of people without anyone taking the minute or two, literally, necessary to confirm its assertions. Religious indignation, rarely being righteous, has a tendency to speak first and think second, if at all.

These indignant defenses of God reveal a belief in a God who needs defending. My God neither needs nor desires any defense from the likes of us. The people who make an issue of this kind of thing fail to see the powerful God of Creation engraved on literally everything in this world. Their God is way too small.

At least all is well as the U.S. Mint. I guess we haven’t officially gone godless after all. Now, God willing, the refusals being tendered across the land can come to a merciful end.

Just in case someone thinks that we’ve relegated God to a minor position, these new coins will also have “E Pluribus Unum”, the year of issuance, and the mint mark engraved on the edge, along with “In God We Trust”. Actually, the upside of this coin is that God will be subject to much less wear in his new location. He will also no longer be taking sides in the perpetual battle between “heads” and “tails”. I always thought that the side of the coin with God on it had a clear advantage at the pre-game coin toss. We’re now restoring fairness at the 50-yard line.

Furthermore, the edge of a coin represents a circle, which has no beginning and no end, thereby signifying the eternal and infinite nature of God and the love he has for those of us who carry him around in our pockets. I’m sure all that pleases him.

But, still, you have to wonder whether the first time God picked up one of these coins he searched frantically from side to side trying to find his name, only to eventually breathe a deep sigh of relief at finding he was living on the edge!

God bless America.