FACT: “In God We Trust” didn’t become the official motto of the United States until 1956.

This motto had nothing to do with our nation’s origin and didn’t appear on coinage until almost 100 years after independence. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, “In God We Trust” was first put on coins in 1864 at the urging of Rev. Mark Watkinson of Pennsylvania, largely “because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War.”

“In God We Trust” has always been about injecting Christianity into the public sphere and about excluding non-Christians. During the Cold War, in an attempt to differentiate the United States from the communist Soviet Union, which was officially atheist, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution in 1956 “declaring In God We Trust the national motto of the United States.” The resolution was passed without debate and without any dissenting votes in either the House or Senate.

FACT: Until 1956, E Pluribus Unum served as our nation’s motto.

Meaning “out of many one,” this was deliberately secular in order to include all Americans. It was first proposed in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson and Pierre Eugene du Simitiere as part of a design for the first seal of the United States of America. If that motto was good enough for the Founding Fathers and the Great Seal of the United States, it is the most appropriate and historically accurate motto for us today.