[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23969-23970]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            IN GOD WE TRUST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kagen). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues can 
understand me. I've got a little bit of laryngitis.
  Mr. Speaker, directly across from me, at the top of the Chamber is a 
depiction of Moses, and behind me, above the Speaker's rostrum is 
words, ``In God We Trust.''
  There are a lot of people in this country who have tried to get all 
symbols of

[[Page 23970]]

religion, belief in God taken off of all public properties and coins 
and currency. Recently, there were thousands of coins minted without 
``In God We Trust'' on them, and now they're talking about putting ``In 
God We Trust'' in an obscure place on coins so that people can't read 
it, right on the edge of the coin. I think this is--we're moving in a 
very, very wrong direction.
  This country was formed with a firm reliance on God Almighty, and 
when we start taking God out of everything, as some people want to do, 
we run the risk of having him turn his back on us. This Nation was 
formed and was founded with people praying every day in the Second 
Continental Congress when we had the Declaration of Independence and in 
Constitution Hall because they couldn't come to an agreement, and by 
prayer and supplication they were able to reach agreement; thus, we 
have the Declaration of Independence, and we had our Constitution that 
has made this country so wonderfully powerful and respected around the 
world for the past 250 years.
  Those who try to take God off of all things governmental, such as 
coinage or currency or in this Chamber, are making a terrible mistake, 
in my opinion. And I'm going to be introducing legislation that will 
demand or mandate that ``In God We Trust'' be maintained and retained 
on our currency and on our coinage in a prominent place.
  Once you start turning your back on the good Lord, I think you are 
going to reap the whirlwind, and this is something this Nation cannot 
afford to do right now.

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