Kenneth Mayle v. United States

Wood, Chief Judge.

Kenneth Mayle, an adherent of what he calls non-theistic Satanism, sued the United States and officials from the United States Mint, Department of the Treasury, and Bureau of Engraving and Printing, to enjoin the printing of the national motto, "In God We Trust," on United States currency. The district court dismissed his complaint, and we affirm.

Mayle asserts that the motto amounts to a government endorsement of a "monotheistic concept of God." Because Satanists practice a religion that rejects monotheism, they regard the motto as "an attack on their very right to exist."…