Tis true about the God reference thing. Had a class last semester where we had a discussion about God being on (US) money. It's more so a reference to something called "civic" or "civil" religion than a Christian God reference. Basically, it refers to an entity which has a set of beliefs or principle or something of the sort. For example, Christian belief in God or a US citizen's belief or subscription (if you like) in the country's values (patriotism, items in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc.) and that can be referenced to as "God." It's like saying "In the principle of the Declaration of Independence we trust" but we can refer to that as civil religion. See also: nationalism.