January 8, 2008

In March 2007, the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, alerted Americans that the federal government had removed "In God We Trust" from the face of newly minted $1 Presidential coins and relegated our national motto to the virtually unreadable edge of the coin.  The motto appeared to be merely scratches on the edge, unless one looked for it with a magnifying glass.  To make matters worse, thousands of the coins did not even have the motto stamped on the edge as required by law. 

Outraged that Congress had effectively accomplished what atheists had been unsuccessfully trying to do for years, Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, encouraged the public not to use the coins and to petition Congress to repeal the 2005 law that required the U.S. Mint to place the motto on the edge of the coins.   

The public outcry was heard.  Legislation introduced by Senators. Sam Brownback, R. - KS, and Robert Byrd, D. - WV, that would return "In God We Trust" to a more visible location on the face of the coins passed both houses of Congress and is awaiting President Bush's signature.