To the editor:

The issue of whether or not to have inscriptions like “In God We Trust” on government currency has drawn much attention, but let us step back from the argument of church and state and consider the phrase itself.

“In God We Trust.” To have this on our currency is to say that we trust in something higher than ourselves, namely God. For those who wish its inscription removed, I would ask them where we should put our trust and most importantly, to whom we are accountable.

Many people have said that the result of the November election was a wakeup call that the government, and namely the president, is still accountable to the American people. I would agree, but then we face the question: To whom are the people accountable? Themselves? Look at what happened in Nazi Germany. Hitler did atrocious things, but with the people behind him, inspired by their leader whom they elected. Perhaps we are accountable to the rest of the world, but what if the rest of the world had joined in on the call to exterminate this “inferior” race? Would it still be wrong? It would not have been if we as humans are only accountable to ourselves.

However, if we are accountable to something more than ourselves, and might does not make right, then it is imperative that we declare that it is in God, not ourselves, that we trust.

Isaac McPheeters,

Lawrence