A national humanist group has unveiled a new billboard that replaces the word “God” in the national motto so that the new phrase reads “In Good We Trust.”
The new billboard, which features an image of a U.S. quarter with the revised motto, went up last week in Moscow, Idaho. It is the latest in a series of billboards in the area sponsored by the American Humanist Association, which promotes the idea that one can be good without a belief in God.
“This billboard nicely sums up two of the main messages of the American Humanist Association,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the AHA. “First, that you don’t have to believe in God to be good –in fact, humanists and other non-theists see being good as one of the most important of responsibilities in our one and only life. Second, that church and state should remain separate for the benefit of us all.”
Speckhardt argues that “In Good We Trust” is more inclusive and that the motto “In God We Trust” violates the First Amendment.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last month upheld the constitutionality of references to God on national currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance.
