Votes are 'act of service to the Lord,' says lawmaker who wants 'In God We Trust' in NC legislature

Republican state Rep. Ben Moss says his bill, which seeks to display the words "In God We Trust" in the legislative chambers, would remind lawmakers that votes are "an act of service to the Lord our God and to help advance His Kingdom in our elected capacity."

Posted 10:00 p.m. Feb 28, 2023 — Updated 10:48 p.m. Feb 28, 2023

Paul Specht

, WRAL state politics reporter

North Carolina lawmakers need a reminder that their votes should be “an act of service to the Lord,” according to one state House member.

State Rep. Ben Moss, R-Richmond, is promoting a bill that would emblazon the motto “In God We Trust” directly above and behind the dais of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate in their respective chambers.

Moss, who sponsored the bill with four other Republicans, announced the group’s effort in a press release Tuesday morning.

“Having our national motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ in the center of the House Chamber will serve as a constant reminder that with every vote we take, we do as an act of service to the Lord our God and to help advance His Kingdom in our elected capacity,” Moss said in a statement.

“This legislation will help retain our religious founding and our Nation’s identity,” he added.

Moss’s bill is the latest push by Republicans to integrate the phrase into public spaces. Texas legislators last year adopted a law requiring public schools to display signs with the “In God We Trust” slogan. West Virginia lawmakers advanced a similar bill earlier this year.

The North Carolina bill’s fate is unclear. The office of House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, didn’t immediately respond to questions about the bill. State officials have yet to estimate the cost of the project. Sponsors want to use public dollars only if private donors don’t step forward.

To some, the effort may seem innocuous. The phrase “In God We Trust” has appeared on U.S. currency and on some government property for decades, with Congress adopting it as the nation’s official motto in 1956. It has appeared above the rostrum in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber since 1962.

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To others, such as the American Atheists organization, the motto’s prevalence in government serves to elevate Christian views above the views of non-Christians. And North Carolina’s bill comes as Christian Nationalism — the belief that U.S. laws should be based on Christian values — is on the rise.

More than half of Republicans either believe the U.S. should be a strictly Christian nation or sympathize with that idea, according to a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Brookings Institution. Outside the GOP, support for the idea drops significantly.

While the U.S. motto survived legal challenges on grounds that it doesn’t endorse a specific religion, one opponent argues that Moss’s comments reveal overtly religious intentions.

The notion that lawmakers should be advancing God’s kingdom “is anathema to our nation's secular founding and the oath that Rep. Moss swore to uphold it,” said Ryan Jayne, senior policy counsel for the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The group, which aims to promote the constitutional principle of separation of church and state, opposes the North Carolina bill. Jayne noted that North Carolina already has its own motto — “Esse quam videri” or “to be rather than to seem" — that could serve as a religiously-neutral option.

“As Rep. Moss's comments make clear, the intent of the bill is to send a message to non-Christian lawmakers that they don't belong here,” he said. “Religious division of this sort is exactly why the United States separated religion and government in the first place.”

David Capen, a spokesman for Moss, responded to general criticism of the bill in an email.

"God was at the center of our nation’s founding, 'In God We Trust' is the official motto of the United States, as passed by Congress in 1956," Capen said. “If folks have a problem or want to change that, it seems they would need to take it up with a higher power."

If the bill is sent to a committee, the public may just get that chance.

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