E-mail claims 'In God We Trust' removed from dollar coins

On the new dollar coins, "'In God We Trust' is gone!"
Chain e-mail on Friday, February 5th, 2010 in a message circulated to many people

Condensed story from 2009 Pulitzer prize winner, Politifact.com Click here for Full Story.

The e-mail has the standard ingredients of an Internet falsehood -- sloppy punctuation, an abundance of exclamation points, a plausible story ("I received one from the Post Office as change and I asked for a dollar bill instead"), a request to spread the e-mail far and wide ("Please send to all on your mailing list!!!") and screaming capital letters ("'IN GOD WE TRUST' IS GONE!!!") .

The people forwarding the e-mail included some snarky comments such as "Don't know anything about this, but it does not surprise me. Typical of todays government."

Each year the U.S. Mint releases new coins to honor four U.S. presidents in the order that they served. (For 2010, Presidents Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan and Lincoln are featured.) The law that authorized the coins called for the U.S. president to be on the front, the Statue of Liberty on the back, and, on the edge of the coin, the year of minting and the inscriptions "E Pluribus Unum" and "In God We Trust."

The law changed in 2007 and specified that "In God We Trust" appear on the front of the coin (the "heads" side) rather than the edge. That took effect with coins minted in 2009, starting with the release of the coin honoring President William Harrison. The U.S. Mint Web site says all of the subsequent coins will follow this design.

In God We Trust" also appears on the front of the Native American and Sacagawea dollars. Since 2009, all of the coins in the presidential series have had "In God We Trust" inscribed on the front.

Are you Kidding?