The Reverend Dr. Michael Newdow was born a Jew only to become what he calls a minister in an “atheistic church.” As Harry Golden might have said, “only in America.” He got all the way to the Supreme Court before losing his bid to have “under God” excised from the Pledge of Allegiance. But he’s back, at the moment before the riders of the 9th Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, suing not only on the Pledge but also to get the words “In God We Trust” deleted from our nation’s currency. Let us just say we hope that he — not to put too fine a point on it — loses.

That’s not an entirely obvious call for us. We have a tendency to speak up for the unpopular man (or woman), and we don’t dismiss out of hand the various claims atheists have made in respect of the First Amendment, which declares that the Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. But watching the dollar collapse in recent years — to less than an 800th of an ounce of gold today from as much as a 265th of an ounce of gold when President Bush acceded — we are struck with the thought that the currency needs all the help it can get.

Even if inscribing “In God We Trust” on our currency puts the Reverend Newdow in a tight spot. Maybe what he ought to do is abandon his long campaign against the Congressional tendency to at least recognize the idea of God. Instead he could use his skills at litigation to address the failure of the Congress to live up to its obligations, under Article 1, Section 8, to regulate the value of money and foreign coin and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures. Is putting “In God We Trust” on the dollar enough? Is it sound? Or should the Congress take at least some more substantive step?