How can is this be considered a separation of church and state?

The term is printed on Federal Reserve Notes. Those are produced and controlled under the direction of the Federal Reserve, which is not a federal government agency. It is an independent corporation, incorporated in Delaware. It is not controlled nor wholly governed by the United States government.

I realize this doesn't answer the entirety of your question, but it is the most often noticed printing of "In God We Trust".

:-o

Jonathon G. : I'm sorry you are such a Christian hater. I'll pray for you.

The separation of church and state is not an actual law; it was a philosophy promoted by Thomas Jefferson. The First Amendment actually prohibits Congress from passing laws regarding the establishment of religion. The US motto is considered acceptable because, as you pointed out, it does not reference a specific religion. It could apply to nearly any religious belief. Atheists, Agnostics, and Buddhists might have a problem with the motto, but I doubt this is their biggest concern when dealing with American society.

I'm not disagreeing...just interested to see verification this is the US motto.

*******

I'm finding references to the Congressional Record, 1956, p. 13917 stating:

"At the present time the United States has no national motto. The committee deems it most appropriate that 'In God we trust' be so designated as U.S. national motto"

Still looking to see if it was ever officially adopted

OK It seems it was President Eisenhower approved a joint resolution making it the national motto on July 30, 1956

To answer your Question.. it seems to not-be a seperation

I think one answer is that the "God" in that motto does not specifically refer to the Christian God. Rather it refers to the idea of God in the Deist sense. Many of our Founding Fathers - including Washington - were (some would say arguably) Deists.

Deism was popular well into modern times. In fact it survives even now, although not so much under that term.

Many right-wing, neo-fascist psychopaths cite this and the mention of the word God in the Declaration of Independence as being proof that America is an evangelical Christian police-state. Ironically, these same freaks can't find a single mention of god in our constitution. That's why they want to replace it with the "Wholly Babble"!

Let me digress...

"In God we Trust" came into existence in 1864 during the Civil War. Mention of god in the "pledge of allegiance" came about during the McCarthy era as a way to root out communists.

I think banning any official mention of god should be priority number one. I'm sick of it. Once someone mentions god, I simply assume they are trying to steal something or trick me.

I'm wondering... do you know what separation of church and state is? It's when they don't allow churches to be government funded. If our constitution is based on the Bible (which it is) then that is not intermingling the government and the state. I go to a private Christian school and I am learning about this now in Government class so I am pretty up to date on the concept. Sorry if I came across a little rude.

Peace

-Billy

Nowhere in any of this nation's founding documents will you see the phrase "separation of church and state." You will see in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution that the people have a freedom to pracice their relgion. The government cannot force one particular religion on anyone or any relgion on anyone at all for that matter. Mentioning God in the U.S. motto does not force you to beleive in any particular religion. There is, therefore, nothing wrong with it.

Because it wasn't the "motto" until the Civil War. There was no such motto when the country was founded, nor nearly 90 years of its existence. It was a creation of religious zealots in the 1860s.

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes." - T. Jefferson.

just because you believe in god and place your trust in him (or her) doesn't mean you are of a religion, or that you are trying to enforce your religion. It's basically saying that the country depends on god

separation of church and state was meant to prohibit the church from RULING...that job was left to the government. it doesn't mean that nobody can ever say the word GOD or be religious in public....the statement is always taken too far.