WASHINGTON (BP)–A federal appeals court has ruled that the phrase “In God We Trust” on a government building does not violate the separation of church and state.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., ruled May 13 the national motto may remain on the facade of a county government building in Lexington, N.C. A three-judge panel of the court stated that the phrase does not violate the First Amendment prohibition on government establishment of religion.
Two Lexington lawyers brought suit against Davidson County for its inclusion of the phrase on the new building, but a federal judge ruled last year the inscription did not fail the Lemon test, the standard by which establishment clause cases have been judged for more than three decades. The Fourth Circuit panel agreed.
“[E]ven accepting the allegations of the complaint as true, the display does not contravene any of the three prongs of the Lemon test,” Judge Robert King wrote for the panel. The Fourth Circuit has “heretofore characterized the phrase, ‘In God We Trust,’ when used as the national motto on coins and currency, as a ‘patriotic and ceremonial motto’ with ‘no theological or ritualistic impact.’ The use of the challenged phrase as the national motto is long-standing, and it has been used extensively over the years by the federal government.”
The phrase is used on coins and currency, and it also appears in both houses of Congress, King wrote. Congress established “In God We Trust” as the national motto in 1956, according to the opinion.
The Lemon test, which was outlined in the Supreme Court’s 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman decision, says government does not establish religion if its action has a secular purpose, does not promote or inhibit religion and does not entangle government excessively with religion.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule by July in two establishment clause cases about displays of the Ten Commandments on government property. The cases involve a stand-alone monument on the state capitol grounds in Austin and the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a display of historical documents in two Kentucky county courthouses. The high court heard oral arguments in the cases in early March.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of inclusion of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance but did so on a technicality. The justices decided a father did not have legal standing to bring suit against a California school district on behalf of a daughter of whom he did not have custody.
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