To the editor:

In response to Dot Beckner’s letter published March 13, I would like to point out that the omission of the motto “In God We Trust” from the dollar coins was a minting error limited to about 50,000 coins, not a deliberate omission by liberals.

She asserts that our nation was built “under God.”

In fact, that motto was not adopted until 1956, in response to the perceived “atheism” of communism.

Previously, our motto was “E Pluribus Unum” (out of many, one), a much more pluralistic and appropriate motto to represent the U.S. in spirit and idea. “In God We Trust” did not appear on any coin until 1863, and it was not until 1938 it was struck on all U.S. money, and was not permanently approved until 1958. Theodore Roosevelt protested the approval of the motto on the grounds that it is wrong to evoke “god” in the context of “cheap” political mottos and slogans (his words, not mine). I agree with him.

In fact, the words “under God” were only added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1952, at the request of the Knights of Columbus, a devoutly Catholic organization that has no authority to set government policy, and is in fact criticized by many fundamentalist organizations.

I believe in God, but I think it demeans him to attach his name to a concept that the apostle Paul called, on God’s behalf, the root of all evil, just as it demeans all good patriots to violate the concept of separation of church and state.

Zach Dinges, Lawrence