Hello my friends,

In the storm of endless headlines, a story that might have otherwise flown under my radar popped up in my newsfeed. It was about a new dime mint that will be released this year to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States. The story grabbed my attention because of a very specific detail, a symbol that had long been on the the US's Great Seal was removed for this new mint: the olive branch, the symbol of peace. So, I wanted to ponder this symbolic change with you today, the story it tells about where we are as a country, especially a country whose government claims a certain kind of Christianity, and how we might respond as followers of Jesus.

Recommended Resources:

​-The U.S. Mint dropped the olive branch from the dime. What does that mean for the country? You can read more about this news story here.

​-Pete Hegseth wanted an ‘American Crusade.’ Now he’s leading a war in the Middle East. In this article, some backstory is given on Pete Hegseth's theology and how it has influenced his perspectives on America and the Middle East.

​-Building God's Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction by Julie Ingersoll. I found this book to be utterly fascinating and so well researched. If you're looking to better understand the philosophical and theological foundations and history that have fueled fringe movements in Evangelical Christianity that have now become mainstream, this is a great resource.

​-There is no “battle of Armageddon” in the book of Revelation. I thought I would share this article I wrote on the End Times theology that is shaping a lot of the discourse around the war in Iran among some corners of Christianity.

There Is A Dime For Peace and a Dime For War.

As I mentioned at the beginning, a new dime called the “Emerging Liberty Dime” will enter circulation in 2026 to mark America’s 250th anniversary, replacing the longstanding FDR design. It was designed by Eric David Custer, it features a new Lady Liberty on the front and an eagle clutching only arrows on the reverse, omitting the traditional olive branch. This is a big departure from the Great Seal of the United States, which includes an olive branch, symbolizing peace. The design includes the inscription “Liberty over Tyranny” as well as “In God We Trust.” According to the mint creators, this new design is meant to represent the "winds of revolution" and the colonists' struggle. This dime will only be in circulation for one year before reverting to the original design.

The reason this really struck me is because the olive branch has anchored American iconography for 250 years, so its absence from the very coin marking that anniversary is a telling one.

Every nation tells a story about itself through its symbols.

Flags, monuments, and even the designs on our coins carry messages about what we believe, what we value, and who we aspire to be. Often we handle these symbols so casually that we forget they are speaking at all. Yet sometimes a small change can cause us to look again and remember its significance, as it did for me.

From the earliest days of our republic, Americans tried to balance images of war and peace carefully. When the Great Seal of the United States was finalized in 1782, the eagle was given two objects to hold, which were thirteen arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other. The arrows, of course, represented the original thirteen colonies and the nation’s ability to defend itself. The olive branch represented the nation’s desire for peace. What makes the Great Seal even more intentional is that the eagle was deliberately drawn facing the olive branch rather than the arrows.

It was sending a clear message to anyone who saw it. The United States preferred peace, even while acknowledging the realities of global conflict and its ability to defend itself.

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On the current Roosevelt dime, three symbols appear beside the torch of liberty: an oak branch representing strength and an olive branch representing peace. For nearly eighty years, Americans have carried that quiet reminder in their pockets, that liberty, strength, and peace belong together.

The new anniversary design retains the eagle and the arrows, but the olive branch is absent. That absence may seem like a small artistic choice, but in the language of symbols, small things often carry deep meaning.

In the Book of Genesis, for example, after the floodwaters receded, the dove returned to Noah carrying an olive leaf. The small branch signaled that judgment had passed and that life could begin again. “For the first time,” the story tells us, “the dove returned to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf.” (Genesis 8:11)

Because of ancient narratives like these from many parts of the world, the olive branch became a universal sign of reconciliation, mercy, and restored peace.

This is why symbols matter. They shape how we imagine the world. They teach future generations what a nation hopes to embody. They remind us of the path we believe we are meant to walk.

Personally, I found the absence of the olive branch to be a revealing picture of where we are as a country and a chilling reminder of the intentions voiced those in the highest positions of power.

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​No Quarter

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In recent months, we have heard rhetoric in our national life that speaks more often of enemies than of neighbors, more often of strength than of restraint.

For example, during a recent press briefing, the current defense secretary said about the war in Iran, “We will keep pressing. We will keep pushing, keep advancing. No quarter, no mercy for our enemies.” Many rights groups have rightly come out against the use of the phrase “no quarter” as it is taking the lives of enemies even when they surrender, and is illegal according to both national and international law.

This is a deeply disturbing phrase for the Secretary of Defense to say, not only given his position of power, but because of his belief system as well, which is also represented by symbols on his own body.

Hegseth talks often about how God is on his side and has said that Iran shouldn’t doubt the US’s resolve because it is backed by God. He said, “Our capabilities are better. Our will is better. Our troops are better. The providence of our almighty God is there protecting those troops, and we’re committed to this mission.” During a recent press conference at the Pentagon, he also quoted Psalm 44 by saying, “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.”

At the national prayer breakfast, Hegseth emphasized his belief that America is a “Christian nation” and needs to defend that identity. He then adjusted FDR’s “arsenal of democracy” quote to say, “Not only are we warriors armed with the arsenal of freedom, we ultimately are armed with the arsenal of faith.”

His beliefs take on a deeper and quite disturbing dynamic when one considers his tattoos. He has a Jerusalem Cross on his chest, which is a symbol tied to the Crusades, when many European Christians attempted to retake the Holy Land from Muslims. He also has the phrase “Deus Vult” as a tattoo, which was the Latin rallying cry of Crusaders during the First Crusade in 1095. It means “God Wills It.”

Hegseth has not been shy about his deep distrust of Islam and opposition to Muslims. In his book “American Crusade,” he said that America faces a “Crusade moment” that is similar to the 11th-century Christian crusades his tattoos point to. According to Hegseth, Islamists are enabled by American leftists against God-fearing Christian Americans. He wrote, “We don’t want to fight, but, like our fellow Christians one thousand years ago, we must,” and he then envisioned in his book that the United States would go to war alongside Israel.

This is who is directing our military and the war in Iran right now.

When national leaders say things like giving “no quarter” and have long-held beliefs about needing a Christian “American Crusade,” the language itself carries more than just the idea of war. It carries the sentiments of deep hostility towards fellow human beings and even the desire to eliminate them in the name of Christianity. In such moments, symbols of peace become even more important, not less.

A coin will not determine the moral direction of a nation, of course, but it can reveal something about the spirit of the times in which it was made. The disappearance of the olive branch from the Great Seal on the dime commemorating America’s 250th year paints a clear vision of how those currently in power define our country’s identity and it invites us to reflect on the story we want our symbols to tell.

Prince of Peace.

For followers of Jesus in this time, that reflection carries particular weight. Christians are called to follow the One who is called the Prince of Peace. The One who taught his followers, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” The One who told Peter to put his sword away and said, “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” The One who commanded his disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them.

In a world that often celebrates ruthless power and victory, the call to peace can feel fragile, even naïve. But throughout history, it has been the quiet courage of peacemakers that has preserved the possibility of a more humane world. Nations will always face dangers. Governments must sometimes make hard decisions to defend their people. But a society that forgets the value of peace, symbolically or in practice, especially by those in charge, risks losing something essential to its soul.

Perhaps this small change on a coin can serve as an invitation. An invitation to remember the olive branch and what it represents. An invitation to ask whether our words, our policies, and our public life reflect the peace we claim to desire.

And for us Christians, perhaps it is an invitation to renew our calling, not merely to speak about peace, but to embody it. To hold our leaders accountable to it. To insist that strength and mercy are not enemies, but essential partners. Perhaps it is an invitation to be olive branches in our world ourselves.

Heads or Tails

When writing about coins, I cannot help but think of Matthew 22:19-21, where Jesus was asked whether the people should pay imperial taxes to Caesar. He was asked this question by both the disciples of Pharisees and Herodians, which were two groups that absolutely hated each other, but joined forces against Jesus in this passage. Matthew tells us this was a trap, and it was, because if he said no, he would be opposing Caesar, risking sparking a riot against Roman officials. If he said yes flat out, he would lose credibility with the common people who were being crushed by the taxes.

So in response to this question, Jesus asked for a coin. Scholarly consensus suggests that it was most likely a Roman silver denarius, which was worth a full day’s wages in that time. He asked whose inscription was on the coin. On the front, it featured the bust of Emperor Tiberius, with the inscription “Son of the divine” or “Son of God.” On the tails side, it featured a seated female figure, most likely Tiberius’s mother Livia, depicted as Pax, the goddess of peace. She is pictured seated on an ornate chair, holding a scepter and an olive branch. This would have been regarded as idolatry according to Jewish law, which makes the Pharisees’ trap even more intense.

They answered Jesus' question about whose image was on the coin by saying, “Caesar’s.” So Jesus responds to their trap by saying about the coin, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

It was a way of harkening back to the second commandment, where God says, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” The reason God gives this command about engraved images, even after saying “you shall have no other gods before me,” is to remind the people that God has already created God’s image in the world: humanity (Genesis 1:26). They are not to have any engraved images of the divine because God had made humanity to reflect the divine in the world. Humanity is to be symbols of God in the world.

So in that moment, the people hearing Jesus would remember that they were created in God's image and shouldn't be so preoccupied and controlled by the image of Caesar. He was calling them to embody a different way.

Symbols speak. The question before us is simple: what do we want to reflect with our lives today, the ways of God or the ways of Caesar?

May we follow Jesus’ advice on the topic.

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