Alabama putting God back in schools

Well this is interesting. Alabama will now allow schools to put the US motto “In God We Trust” on school buildings across the state. It’s not a mandate, but certainly allows schools to do so if they choose:

CBN NEWS – Alabama public schools are hoping to bring God back into their schools by displaying the US motto “In God We Trust” on school buildings.

In February, the Alabama legislature approved a new law allowing such displays on public property, and now is giving schools the right to exhibit the motto as well.

The national motto, approved by Congress in 1956, is already displayed in 17 public venues in Alabama, and the Blount County school board plans to be the first to implement the motto in its schools.

Officials say the legislation is not a mandate, like what was approved by Tennessee lawmakers this spring requiring the motto to be on display inside all public schools.

Republican state Rep. David Standridge, who sponsored the original legislation that took effect July 1, said it seemed like a better approach to make it permissive rather than a mandate.

Not only the US motto, but the Ten Commandments might end up back in schools after November, as voters will decided in a referendum if they want to allow it:

AL.com reports Alabama voters will also decide in November whether the state’s 117-year-old constitution should be changed to allow public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

“My hope is they have the Ten Commandments in the schools all over the state of Alabama as well as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the historical documents that go with this country,” said Dean Young, chairman of the Ten Commandments Political Action Committee. “That way, children will be able to see and ask, ‘What are these documents’ and a teacher can say, ‘Those are the Ten Commandments and they come from God and this is what they say.'”

Well this has lawsuit written all over it. Whether the legislature votes of the people vote, activist groups out there will almost certainly sue to stop either from happening.

Just remember there is no ‘separation of Church and State’ in the Constitution, no matter what judges may have ruled in the past (or what you liberal friends may tell you). The state is only prohibited from creating laws that either establish religion or prohibit religion. Putting the US motto on a school building – or even the Ten Commandments in a school building – does neither.


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