Is the United States government discriminating our religious heritage? Nope.

By Cynthia A. Janak

Today I received a forwarded email that I thought might be a scam. This is what the email said.

Don't accept the new dollar

Please help do this... refuse to accept these when they are handed back to you. I received one from the Post Office as change and I asked for a dollar bill instead...the lady just smiled and said way to go, so she had read this e-mail...please help out.

You guessed it
'IN GOD WE TRUST'
IS GONE!!!

If ever there was a reason to boycott something, THIS IS IT!!!!

DO NOT ACCEPT THE NEW DOLLAR COINS AS CHANGE

Together we can force them out of circulation.

Please send to all on your mail list!!

Here is the image that accompanied the email.


Whenever I receive any email that tells me to forward to my email list I am skeptical. So what I do is check out the validity of the content. I did that with this email.

To start with, I went to the Library of Congress, Thomas and this is what I found. http://thomas.loc.gov

S.1047

One Hundred Ninth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the fourth day of January, two thousand and five

An Act

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of each of the Nation's past Presidents and their spouses, respectively, to improve circulation of the $1 coin, to create a new bullion coin, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the 'Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005.'

TITLE I — PRESIDENTIAL $1 COINS

SEC. 102. PRESIDENTIAL $1 COIN PROGRAM.

Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

'(n) Redesign and Issuance of Circulating $1 Coins Honoring Each of the Presidents of the United States-

'(1) REDESIGN BEGINNING IN 2007-

'(2) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS- The $1 coins issued in accordance with paragraph (1)(A) shall meet the following design requirements:

'(A) COIN REVERSE- The design on the reverse shall bear —

'(i) a likeness of the Statue of Liberty extending to the rim of the coin and large enough to provide a dramatic representation of Liberty while not being large enough to create the impression of a '2-headed' coin;

'(ii) the inscription '$1'; and

'(iii) the inscription 'United States of America.'

'(B) COIN OBVERSE- The design on the obverse shall contain —

'(i) the name and likeness of a President of the United States; and

'(ii) basic information about the President, including —

'(I) the dates or years of the term of office of such President; and

'(II) a number indicating the order of the period of service in which the President served.

'(C) EDGE-INCUSED INSCRIPTIONS-

'(i) IN GENERAL- The inscription of the year of minting or issuance of the coin and the inscriptions 'E Pluribus Unum' and 'In God We Trust' shall be edge-incused into the coin. (I added the underline to emphasize this section only.)

'(ii) PRESERVATION OF DISTINCTIVE EDGE- The edge-incusing of the inscriptions under clause (i) on coins issued under this subsection shall be done in a manner that preserves the distinctive edge of the coin so that the denomination of the coin is readily discernible, including by individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

'(D) INSCRIPTIONS OF 'LIBERTY'- Notwithstanding the second sentence of subsection (d)(1), because the use of a design bearing the likeness of the Statue of Liberty on the reverse of the coins issued under this subsection adequately conveys the concept of Liberty, the inscription of 'Liberty' shall not appear on the coins.

'(E) LIMITATION IN SERIES TO DECEASED PRESIDENTS- No coin issued under this subsection may bear the image of a living former or current President, or of any deceased former President during the 2-year period following the date of the death of that President.

I want to bring your attention to (C) EDGE-INCRUSED INSCRIPTIONS (i) IN GENERAL.

The phrase "In God We Trust" is now going to be inscribed on the edge of the new coins. It is not going to be eliminated as is suggested in the email I received.

This is what the coins will look like. I think they are rather nice looking coins.

I took these images from the web site of the United States Mint.

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin


As you can see the phrase "In God We Trust" is not inscribed on the front (obverse) and back (reverse) of the coin like we are used to seeing on our present currency. Thus, the picture in the email is, somewhat, valid. What the author of the original email is not telling you is that "E Pluribus Unum" and "In God We Trust" is edge-lettering as shown in the image below taken from The United States Mint.


http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/index.cfm?action=EdgeIncused

To finish I want to quote from the "United States Mint" website about The Presidential $1 Coins.

The United States is honoring our Nation's presidents by issuing $1 circulating coins featuring their images in the order that they served. The United States Mint issues four Presidential $1 Coins per year, with Presidents Monroe, Adams, Jackson, and Van Buren being honored in 2008. Each coin has a common reverse design featuring a striking rendition of the Statue of Liberty. These coins feature larger, more dramatic artwork, as well as edge-incused inscriptions of the year of minting or issuance, "E Pluribus Unum," "In God We Trust" and the mint mark. Although the size, weight and metal composition of the new Presidential $1 Coin are identical to that of the Sacagawea Golden Dollar, there are several unique features that make this coin distinctive.

And this taken from their brochure.

The coin series is designed to have significant educational
value, sparking public interest in and awareness of
past Presidents. The United States Mint will provide a
wide variety of educational support materials and other
informational materials free of charge to depository
institutions, businesses and educators.
Among the informational materials that will be available
are posters, flyers and brochures that depository institutions
and businesses can use to alert customers about the
new coins. The United States Mint is also developing
comprehensive lesson plans for teachers and parents.
These lesson plans align with national standards and will be
available via download free of charge. More information
about the Presidential $1 Coin Program and details on how
to order free informational materials will be available soon
at www.usmint.gov/$1coin.

My opinion about this email is that it is a hoax. The person that created this email had the intent to mislead us and has too much time on their hands. They just want to incite the United States citizen. They want to take our attention away from the real issues. Do not let that happen. What we need to do is focus on the real issues and electing a president that will lead this country back to the greatness that it once was.

My suggestion is that whenever you receive an email that tells you to send this to your email list BEWARE! The odds are it is a scam.

May God bless you and your family.

© Cynthia A. Janak