ABSTRACT
An act of Congress in 1837 had specified that the mottoes be placed on US coins. In the 1860s, however, eleven Protestant denominations under the umbrella of the National Reform Association (NRA) mounted a campaign to add references to God to the US Constitution and other federal documents. President Theodore Roosevelt disapproved of having such a motto on coins and similar displays. He felt it was irreverent and came dangerously close to sacrilege. His efforts to remove the motto from coins resulted in arousing the religious community, however, and Congress passed another resolution in 1908. During the Cold War era of the 1950s, the federal government's references to God multiplied. In 2002 the American Family Association, taking advantage of the post-September 11 climate, launched a national campaign to place a copy of the motto "In God we trust" in every school classroom and public building in America.
