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Human Events...
Rep. Randy Forbes:
‘In God We Trust’
by Emily Miller
03/18/2011
Rep Randy Forbes (R.-Va.) has spent four years fighting to have
Congress officially support the right to have the national motto “In
God We Trust” in government buildings and public schools.
Forbes won a big victory on Thursday when the House Judiciary Committee
passed his In God We Trust Resolution, which reaffirms the national
motto and supports and encourages the public display of the motto in
all public buildings.
Forbes is pushing this legislation because of a recent cultural shift
in America to keep God out of public and government institutions.
“This sends a clear message to all these government departments and
agencies that it’s all right to put up the motto on our buildings and
in our classrooms. And I think it will stop the tide of the
chilling effect over the past several years,” Forbes said in an
interview with HUMAN EVENTS.
“We’re not forcing anybody to do anything,” said Forbes. “But at
the same time, we want to stand there to protect people who want to say
God in a public building. And we don’t want some government
agency telling them that they can’t put the national motto in their
buildings or classrooms.”
Congress voted in 1956 to make “In God We Trust” the nation’s official
motto. A year earlier, Congress passed a law that mandated the
phrase be on all coins and currency. President Eisenhower signed
the currency bill into law in 1956, and since then all American paper
money and coins have the motto on them.
“This is not just about Christians. This is about a number of
different religions across the country,” said Forbes. “We simply
recognize the importance of God in this country, all the way back to
the Declaration of Independence, through all the Presidents, to the
Supreme Court, to the actions of Congress, and the actions of the
Senate.”
Forbes points to specific recent events that drive him to give
statutory assurances to the public that they are both allowed and
encouraged to put the national motto on government buildings.
Last November, President Obama gave a speech in Indonesia in which he
wrongly cited the national motto. “In the United States, our
motto is E pluribus unum—out of many, one,” said Obama to Indonesian
university students.
Forbes said that by giving “the President a resolution like this—that
shows that the House of Representatives knows what the motto is—we can
just encourage him to be correct the next time that he is giving
speeches.”
In 2007, the U.S. Mint struck an unknown number of George Washington
dollar coins without the motto “In God We Trust.” The mint later
restored the motto, but put it in small script at the edge of the coin,
instead of its previous location on the coin’s face.
Forbes said that of all the events eroding the motto in public
building, the cause “culminated in the case of the new Capitol
Visitor Center.” When the U.S. Capitol’s new Capitol Visitors
Center was set to open in 2008, the motto “In God We Trust” was left
off the building.
They tried to keep ‘In God We Trust’ out of the visitor’s center,” said
Forbes. “At first, they put in stone: ‘Our national motto
is E pluribus unum.’ And then they did a mock-up of the Speaker’s
podium. And where ‘In God We Trust’ is on it, they replaced it
with just stars.”
Outraged members of the House and Senators intervened on the issue,
which came to a vote in the House in 2009. The bill which
directed the architect of the Capitol to engrave “In God We Trust” in a
prominent place in the building passed by a vote of 410 to 8. The
Senate passed the same bill, and as a result, “In God We Trust” was
engraved in the main foyer.
These and other events inspired Forbes, who is the founder and chairman
of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, to push for the House to reaffirm
the national motto.
“The most important thing that we want to establish is not whether or
not you are a Christian, but we have to stop the tide that suggests
that America has lost its right to trust in God. I don’t believe
it has lost that right. I think it still has it. We just
want to make sure that we are there to protect it and defend it,”
Forbes said to HUMAN EVENTS.
The Senate passed a reaffirmation of the motto in 2006, but because it
was late in the term, there was not time to bring it up in the House.
In 2007, the Democrats took back control of the House and Rep. John
Conyers (D.-Mich.) became chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Conyers, who was one of eight who voted against putting the motto in
the new Capitol Visitor Center, refused to allow a committee vote on
the In God We Trust Resolution.
As the Republicans were poised last year to take back control of the
House, Forbes started lobbying Lamar Smith (R.-Tex.), who would be
chairman of the Judiciary Committee in a GOP House.
“I spoke with Chairman Smith last year. He was kind enough to
write me a letter which said that, if we gain control of the House, the
reaffirmation of the motto would be one of the first piece’s of
legislation that would be brought up,” said Forbes. “And he
honored that commitment.”
During the committee hearing on Thursday, Smith said the bill “provides
Congress with the opportunity to renew its support of a principle that
was venerated by the Founders of this country, and by its Presidents,
on a bipartisan basis.”
Forbes has not spoken yet to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R.-Va.)
about the timing of the bill, but said that he “would expect it to be
on the floor in two or three weeks.”
The Majority Leader determines the floor schedule and timing of
votes. Asked about the Forbes bill, a Cantor spokeswoman would
not commit on the April timing that Forbes expects for a vote.
“Eric agrees with the intent of the resolution and it may come to the
floor in the coming months. However, as you know, there are many
other substantive policy items that are going to need floor time,” said
Cantor’s spokeswoman.
The In God We Trust Resolution has 64 co-sponsors, including four
Democrats, Dan Boren (Okla.), Daniel Lipinski (Ill.), Nick Rahall
(W.Va.), and Mike Ross (Ark.).
“We don’t view this as a partisan bill at all,” said Forbes. “I
think when you see it on the floor, there will be a lot of Democrats
who vote for it.”
As for passage of his bill, Forbes said that “you never want to be
overly confident, but when it passed in 1956, it was unanimous in the
House and unanimous in the Senate.”
Francis Scott Key coined the original phrase “In God is our trust” in a
poem in 1814. Key’s early variation evolved over time into “In
God We Trust.”
Key wrote the words while witnessing the British bombard Fort McHenry
in the Baltimore harbor in 1814. Key’s poem was later made into a
song and became the U.S. national anthem, renamed “The Star-Spangled
Banner.” The U.S. national motto came from Key’s words in the
last stanza of his poem:
“Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
Read it at Human Events
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