Signs reading “In God We Trust” are becoming more common in Texas schools as a result of a recent rule that mandates the exhibition of such posters in schools if they are given as donations.
Senate Bill 797, which was passed through the Texas legislature the previous year, requires schools to display the posters in a “conspicuous place” as long as they were “donated” or “purchased by private donations.” This has led to the signs being displayed in a variety of locations across the state recently.
The mobile phone business Patriot Mobile, which is situated in Texas, gave the Carroll Independent School District a number of signs that are presently being shown thanks to a donation.
Per a statement that was published by the firm on Facebook, “Patriot Mobile has provided framed posters to many additional school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, and we will continue to do so until all of the schools in the area get them.”
As kids return to school, a new Texas law that was co-authored by Houston State Rep. @TomOliverson is allowing groups to place “In God We Trust” signs on multiple campuses. https://t.co/224NqgY76T
— MySA (@mySA) August 18, 2022
According to a story in the Houston Chronicle, identical signs were discovered in and around the cities of Houston and Austin in the state of Texas.
Fox News had more details to share about the new law:
The national motto, In God We Trust, asserts our collective trust in a sovereign God,” Texas Republican State Sen. Bryan Hughes, who sponsored the legislation, said on Twitter. “I co-authored the bill in 2003 that allowed schools to display the motto, and last year I authored the ‘In God We Trust Act,’ which requires a school to display the motto if there is no cost associated with the display.”
Bryce Nieman, spokesperson for the Keller Independent School District, told that donated signs are being displayed mainly in front offices.
Not everyone is pleased with the new law including the founder of the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition who told KXAS-TV that the law raises concerns about the separation of church and state.
The phrase in God We Trust gained its notoriety way back in the Civil War era. In the years leading up to the American Civil War there were certain people in the United States who advocated for the phrase “In God We Trust” to be printed on coinage.
However, since many people believed that the proposal would violate the First Amendment, it was not accepted. But as the nation was torn apart by the Civil War, more people began to feel strongly about their religious beliefs.
Fast-forward to the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union were deep in the throes of a cold war. Political leaders in the United States made an appeal to the nation’s religion in an effort to differentiate the god-fearing worldview of the United States from that of the Soviet Union, which they feared would spread communism. It wasn’t only danger from other countries that people were worried about.
"In God We Trust" became America's official motto today in 1956 when President Eisenhower signs a Joint Resolution of Congress. pic.twitter.com/MlS6Y9n5c5
— Rep. Steve Womack (@rep_stevewomack) July 30, 2017
On the domestic front, conservative businessmen and religious leaders such as Billy Graham, angered by the social welfare policies of the New Deal, urged President Dwight Eisenhower to direct the nation’s attention toward “faith, freedom, and free enterprise.”
Billy Graham was one of the religious leaders who made this request. Eisenhower, who was himself a highly devout man, did not hesitate to comply with the requirement, and he signed a measure into law that mandated the phrase “In God We Trust” be written on all paper and coin money. In the month of November in 1956, both houses of Congress unanimously agreed upon a joint resolution that established “In God We Trust” as the national motto of the United States.
Quite obviously, the founder of the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition has NO idea, (like 98% of the population) what the real foundation of ‘separation of church and state” is. It is NOT to keep God out of our schools, offices, etc.; it is to keep the government away from God. It is to prevent them from barring us the liberty to worship anywhere, anytime!