Non-religious mentions of God (or religious concepts) in the American English language

Reading about an appeal turned down by the US Supreme Court, I see that the majority opinion on phrases such as “in God we trust” and “one nation under God” is that they are not affirmations of faith, but “a historic, nonreligious recognition of the faith of the nation's founders in a higher power as the source of all rights”.

As a European, I have a hard time understanding this particular view, though that's very off-topic here. More on topic, this reading fueled my curiosity about the existence of other such expressions in English, be them either about God directly or religions in general. My question is: are there other typical sentences or mottos which, while having a religious meaning if read literally, but are commonly understood as nonreligious? Maybe among States’ mottos, or those of army units’. I can't see where to start looking.

One thing, though: I'm pretty much aware of the large number of phrases, idioms, or sayings which feature the word God and can be used almost without risk in daily language, such as “for God's sake”, “God bless”, “God forbid”, “God help”, “God willing”, etc. I'm not looking for any such idiom.

Insurance companies will often not cover "acts of God"

Einstein famously remarked, "God doesn't play dice." Stephen Hawking recently said, "God may play dice after all." Einstein was not religious. He once claimed that he believed in Spinoza's God"; though, later in his life he was more candid about his Atheism. These uses of God are often called poetic, but also lead to misunderstandings. An American newspaper once claimed that Einstein was a believer in God. He wrote back with a scathing letter.

I guess many sentences in the Old and New Testaments could be taken as religious if read literally.

F'x, don't you find it odd, or off-putting, that countries like Germany are led by parties with Christian (CDU) in their names? As an American, I always wince when I see Christian Democratic Union next to Angela Merkel's name. Of course, you might say that the Republican Party is certainly more Christian than the CDU or other such parties. I might agree.

But I digress. It is important to remember that "in God we trust" became the US motto only after the "Star Spangled Banner" became the National Anthem--it was taken from the last stanza. It had been "E Pluribus Unum." "God bless America" concludes the State of the Union Address.

I'll try to answer your question with a question. Can you think of any saying, phrase, whatever that, while having a religious meaning if read literally, is not understood as nonreligious? This is the question. Who's understanding what? I'd assume that most mentions of God are to be understood religiously, if the speaker is religious, and poetically, if the speaker is not religious. Many people find the swear "Jesus Christ" offensive--I don't think Atheists do.

It is also interesting to notice how people read 16th, 17th, 18th century authors and statesmen. It is odd that atheists usually read atheism into Hobbes and Hume and Christians think the atheists are reading too much into the texts.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "commonly."