Since 1986, Brazilian bank notes contain the words “Deus Seja Louvado” (God Be Praised). In 2012, a federal prosecutor from São Paulo sought a court order to force the central bank to replace the nation’s entire supply of paper currency with bills that do not display these words, arguing that Brazil is a secular state and that this phrase violates the rights of non-Christians and nonbelievers. The Bank responded by stating that the preamble to the Brazilian constitution explicitly states that the democracy was formed “under the protection of God”, and that the state, “not being atheist, anticlerical or antireligious, can legitimately make a reference to the existence of a higher being, a divinity, as long as, in doing so, it does not make an allusion to a specific religious doctrine