Since 2003, Texas law has allowed the display of the national motto, “In God We Trust” in public schools and institutions. Last year, Texas passed a law that requires schools to display any donated copies of the motto that meet a certain criteria.
Texas Senate Bill 797 passed last year but hasn’t been making headlines until recently. The bill states that public schools must display a durable poster or framed copy of the United States national motto, in a clearly visible area. There are three requirements for the display:
- The sign must be donated or purchased with private donations in order to fall under this bill’s rule.
- The motto must contain representations of the U.S. and Texas flags.
- The poster may not depict any words, images, or other statements not otherwise listed.
Many framed posters were donated to Texas schools by conservative groups, including Patriot Mobile, a mobile service provider. Specifically, Carroll Independent School District has been met with criticism from Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition (SARC) as well as Florida activist Chaz Stevens.
SARC attended the Carroll ISD school board meeting and used their time during the public comment portion to present signs featuring the rainbow flag, as well as signs containing “In God We Trust” written in Arabic. The group claimed that the signs are “more inclusive” of all workers, taxpayers, and citizens of the community. SARC worked with the Texas Bipartisan Alliance to make sure the posters conformed to the requirements of the state law. Carroll ISD declined the donation citing they already have enough signs for all buildings in the district.
Chaz Stevens, who is also the founder of Mount Jab Church of Mars, started a GoFundMe campaign entitled “Messin’ [with] Texas.” He originally intended to raise $10,000 for posters in Arabic. The group has already raised $42,051 and has raised the goal to a generous $250,000.
The fundraising page states, “Simply said, there’s not an organization on the planet like the Church of Mars, and we will not be silent while evangelical Christians stomp our collective rights. To voice our dissent with Texas SB-797, we’re going to design, print, deliver, and donate 500+ ‘various’ languages (Arabic, Hindi, English Gay Pride, Spanish, Vulcan, Klingon, and others) “In God We Trust” 16×20 posters to schools in Texas, flooding the public school system with our IGWT artwork. We’re also going to rent billboard space across the state — I’m looking at you Southlake and Mineola!”
“Messin’ w Texas IGWT (Arabic, Hindi, Gay Pride)” GoFundMe
Texas is only the most recent state to mandate the display of the national motto in public schools. According to Ed Note, multiple states have laws of a similar nature.
It is expected for lawsuits regarding separation of state and religion to develop against Texas over the law. In the past, the majority of lawsuits challenging the motto, “In God We Trust” have not successfully proved to be unconstitutional. The use of our national motto is considered by the courts as ceremonial and patriotic rather than religious in nature.
