Washington, USA - Americans may trust in God, but they may no longer trust the U.S. Mint.
An unknown number of new dollar coins commemorating George Washington's presidency have been released without the phrase "In God We Trust" lettered on their edges.
The "Godless" coins are already a hot collectors item, selling for more than US$200 each on eBay.
The Mint has struck 300 million of the coins but cannot say how many were released without the crucial inscription, which first appeared on two-cent coins in 1861. The agency says they were "inadvertently" placed into circulation on Feb. 15.
But some are suggesting the error may be part of a larger conspiracy to remove God from America's public life.
"Have the ACLU and the militant atheists infiltrated the U.S. Mint?" writes conservative columnist and blogger Tony Phyrillas.
Even the dollars released with the inscription are contentious: This is the first time the Mint opted to put the motto on the edge of coins rather than their surface (a decision, the Mint says, that left more room for artwork on the face). But critics allege the new placement of the phrase, which is legally required on American currency, hides it because it is so hard to see.
"We are a Christian nation. We're more Christian than Israel is Jewish, than India is Hindu," said Brian Rooney, a spokesman for the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, a firm dedicated to defending the religious freedom and family values of Christians.
"We shouldn't be afraid of the fact that the United States is a Christian nation, and for the people of this country to want it to be reflected on its national currency. Symbols are important. Once you get rid of the symbols, then you can get rid of the identity of what it is to be an American, what it is to be a Christian."
Meanwhile, atheists who have been lobbying Congress to remove the word "God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and American currency are thrilled with the gaffe.
"It's a wonderful error," said Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, a New Jersey- based group with 2,400 members.
"We don't trust in a god. The government has no right to speak for all of the people of this country in matters of religion, and that's what they do."
The United States passed legislation in 1955 that made "In God We Trust" mandatory on all coins and paper currency. The phrase became the national motto the following year, replacing the previous motto, E Pluribus Unum (One from Many). Both phrases are inscriptions on the edge of the new presidential coins.
Coins honouring four presidents will be released each year as the United States tries to convince Americans to use dollar coins instead of bills as a cost saving measure.
To coin collectors, what makes the Godless coins unique is not the absence of God, but the fact the Mint accidentally released them before they were complete, said Fred Weinberg, an "error dealer" in Encino, Calif.
"It's a significant error in the sense that it's the first time the U.S. Mint, since 150 years ago, had put lettered edges on coins," he said. "It has nothing to do with the Godless part. It has to do with that it missed an important part of the minting process, that makes these coins incomplete."