10/20/2026
šŗšø IN GOD WE TRUST: OUR RIGHTS COME FROM OUR CREATOR
Faith, Family & Freedom
By Authur Gorman
Government does not give us our fundamental rights. Our Creator does. That means no king, politician, or government has the rightful authority to erase them.
Whether you are a Christian, practice another religion, or are an atheist, the American founding principle applies equally to you. Your rights do not depend on your religion, your political affiliation, or whether those in power approve of what you believe.
You do not have to share my faith to understand the protection that principle provides: if our rights were simply gifts from government, government could claim the authority to withdraw them.
The Declaration of Independence places their source beyond human government. We possess fundamental rights because of our humanity. Government exists to protect them.
That is the first thing I want my childrenāand every readerāto understand.
A government can violate our rights. A ruler can suppress them. History shows us that clearly. But possessing power does not make its abuse legitimate. No politicianās signature can turn an injustice into a moral right.
As a father and a Christian, I believe our rights come from God, our Creator and Heavenly Father. As an American, I believe those rights must be defended equally for my neighbor who believes differently.
You do not have to believe in God to possess the rights the Declaration describes as God-given.
That is why our national motto matters to me:
IN GOD WE TRUST.
The Founders placed our Creator before government
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence stated the principle that would become central to Americaās promise. Read this entire passage carefully:
āWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.āThat to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, āThat whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.ā
The order matters.
First, people possess rights endowed by their Creator.
Then, governments are established to secure those rights.
And governmentās just powers depend on the consent of the governed. (archives.govā ļæ¼)
The Founders did not describe liberty as a favor from a generous king. They declared that people possessed rights against which the conduct of their government could be judged.
When I explain this to my children, I put it plainly:
God gave you dignity and fundamental rights. Government is responsible for respecting and protecting them. It does not own them, and it does not own you.
They understood the danger of unchecked power
The Founders were breaking with Great Britain under King George III. Their Declaration listed grievances against the Crown and imperial government, including interference with representative institutions, taxation without consent, and obstruction of justice. (archives.govā ļæ¼)
They knew what it meant to live under authority they believed had violated their liberties. They also lived in a world where hereditary rulers exercised enormous power over ordinary people.
The American experiment challenged the idea that someoneās birth entitled him to govern others without their consent.
That lesson still matters.
Elected officials are public servants accountable to the people and bound by the Constitution. Winning an election does not give anyone unlimited authority over another personās conscience, speech, family, or life.
Our responsibility is to hold officials accountable through peaceful civic action: voting, speaking, petitioning, attending public meetings, and using the courts to challenge abuses.
We the people must understand our rights well enough to recognize when government oversteps its authority.
The Declaration states the principle; the Constitution establishes the framework
We should teach our children both documents accurately.
The words about our Creator and the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness appear in the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution establishes our system of government, and its amendments provide enforceable constitutional protections.
The Constitution begins with āWe the People.ā Its structure distributes authority and places limits on those who exercise it.
The Bill of Rights makes many of those protections explicit. The First Amendment protects religious exercise, speech, the press, peaceful assembly, and petition. The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fifth Amendment requires due process before deprivation of life, liberty, or property.
The Ninth Amendment states:
āThe enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.ā (archives.govā ļæ¼)
Retained by the people.
Listing certain rights does not exhaust the rights people retain.
This does not mean every personal preference becomes a constitutional right or that every restriction is unlawful. It means government power has boundaries, and officials must respect the protections that bind them.
Why our national motto matters
āIn God We Trustā became our official statutory motto in 1956, long after the founding. Its adoption date should be taught accurately.
For me, its message connects to the Declarationās earlier recognition of a Creator and the conviction that human authority answers to a higher moral standard.
Trust in God should make leaders humble. It should remind us that public office does not make anyone infallible.
It should also remind us that defending liberty includes defending the rights of people who disagree with us.
I want my children to understand that every person has value before God. That conviction calls us to treat our neighbors with dignity and resist the temptation to use power simply because we possess it.
The motto does not replace the Constitution or authorize government to compel religious belief. We can honor our national motto while respecting every Americanās freedom of conscience.
If we believe rights come from our Creator, we must defend them for everyone.
The history behind those four words
The motto has a documented legislative history stretching across generations.
ā¢ April 22, 1864: Congress approved legislation authorizing the two-cent coin and a process for approving its design. āIn God We Trustā first appeared on that coin in 1864.
ā¢ July 11, 1955: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed H.R. 619, Public Law 84-140, requiring the inscription on United States coins and currency.
ā¢ July 30, 1956: Eisenhower signed Public Law 84-851, officially declaring āIn God We Trustā the national motto.
ā¢ October 1, 1957: The first paper currency bearing the mottoāthe one-dollar silver certificateāentered circulation. (govinfo.govā ļæ¼, history.house.govā ļæ¼)
The two laws had different purposes: the 1955 law concerned currency; the 1956 law established the national motto.
āE pluribus unumāāāOut of many, oneāāalso remains an important American phrase associated with the Great Seal. Establishing the statutory national motto did not erase that earlier national tradition. (blogs.loc.govā ļæ¼)
Congress repeatedly returned to the motto
The legislative record shows repeated support for recognizing and displaying our national motto.
July 24, 2000: The House adopted H.Res. 548, supporting and encouraging display of the national motto in public buildings, public schools, and other government institutions. (govinfo.govā ļæ¼)
November 13, 2002: Public Law 107-293 became law. Along with reaffirming the Pledge of Allegianceās reference to one nation under God, it reaffirmed the exact language of the national motto. It directed that the wording of 36 U.S.C. Ā§ 302 remain unchanged and that the reaffirmation be recorded in the historical and statutory notes. (govinfo.govā ļæ¼)
July 12, 2006: The Senate agreed to S.Con.Res. 96 to commemorate, celebrate, and reaffirm the motto on the fiftieth anniversary of its formal adoption. (govinfo.govā ļæ¼)
November 1, 2011: The House approved H.Con.Res. 13 by an overwhelming 396ā9 vote. The resolution reaffirmed the official motto and supported and encouraged its display in public buildings, public schools, and other government institutions. This was House approval of a concurrent resolution, rather than a newly enacted law. (govinfo.govā ļæ¼, govinfo.govā ļæ¼)
These actions demonstrate repeated support across decades. The mottoās legal status had already been established in 1956; later lawmakers returned to affirm it.
Federal law remains direct:
āāIn God we trustā is the national motto.ā (uscode.house.govā ļæ¼)
For me, this history is worth teaching. Americans should understand what our motto is, when it became law, and why its message continues to matter.
Rights can be violatedāand that is why we must defend them
When I tell my children that government cannot rightfully take away their God-given rights, I also want them to understand the responsibility that comes with that belief.
Calling a right unalienable does not make its violation impossible. It gives us a foundation for recognizing that violation as wrong.
Americaās own history includes slavery, exclusion, and grave failures to apply the equality proclaimed in the Declaration. We should teach that truth. Those failures demonstrate the cost of denying other people the dignity we claim for ourselves.
Each generation has a responsibility to bring our conduct closer to our founding promise.
That means defending freedom when it is inconvenient. It means speaking against injustice when doing so carries a cost. It means refusing to excuse an abuse simply because the person committing it belongs to our preferred political party.
Our principles must be stronger than our loyalty to any politician.
What I want my children to inherit
I want my children to know their founding documents well enough to read them for themselves.
I want them to ask questions, recognize the limits of government, and understand the responsibilities of citizenship.
I want them to vote thoughtfully, speak honestly, serve their neighbors, and respect the rights of others.
As a father and school board trustee, I believe education should prepare young people for that responsibility. Reading, history, and civics give students the tools to understand the country they will one day lead.
Families have an essential role in passing on faith, character, and an understanding of freedom.
We teach those lessons by keeping our word, accepting responsibility, helping someone in need, and standing up when a neighbor is treated unjustly.
Our children learn what we value by watching what we do.
A responsibility worth passing on
āIn God We Trustā reminds me that political power is temporary and that I answer to God for how I treat people.
It reminds me that public service requires humility.
Our rights are not a politicianās gift. Protecting them is a public servantās duty.
Faith. Family. Freedom. šŗšø
ā Authur Gorman
