Eli5: why does US currency still have “in god we trust” written on it even though church and state are supposed to be separate?
In: Economics
Separation of Church and State in the American constitution isn’t like French *laicité*, which actively limits the expression of religious values within the public sphere. Rather, it’s that the US government can’t legally privilege or prejudice one religion over another, or religious situations in general vs. comparable secular situations.
For instance, in the 1990s the Supreme Court struck down a city law banning voodoo animal sacrifice but left exemptions for kosher animal slaughter; since it was explicitly singling out religions for punishments and protections, it was deemed unconstitutional. Or a couple years ago, they struck down a rule at Boston City Hall banning groups from flying religious flags when they’d let any other sort of secular group fly a flag there as well.
As for why having “In God We Trust” as a national motto, as others have pointed out, there was a Supreme Court case on the matter. It’s so vague and detached from any particular religious group, not to mention being a wholly symbolic motto rather than a law with concrete effects, that it’s not endorsing a faith or infringing upon people’s religious rights in any way. After all, who’s the God referred to in it, the Abrahamic God? Brahma? Osiris? The Neoplatonic supreme One?
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