The good people of the state of South Dakota put their trust in God – so much so – they made it the law.
Every public school in the state is now required to prominently display the motto — In God We Trust. Gov. Kristi Noem signed the law in March.
South Dakota lawmakers say the law is meant to inspire patriotism in public schools — something we could use a whole lot more of these days.
“South Dakota is right to display the National Motto throughout the state. Every circuit court to have evaluated the National Motto—‘In God We Trust’—has upheld the phrase, noting that it is in keeping with the history and heritage of our country,” First Liberty Institute attorney Jeremy Dys told The Todd Starnes Radio Show. “Those who demand we scrub the phrase off our buildings, scratch it off our money, delete it from our National Anthem, or hide it from sight, deny our history.”
In God We Trust became the nation’s official motto back in 1956 – first appeared on our money the following year.
As you might imagine there was some push back.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a perpetually offended group of atheists and agnostics from Wisconsin, said the law was a terrible violation of freedom of conscience. They accused lawmakers of inflicting a godly message on children.
“These laws are about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was ‘founded on God’ or Christianity, thus dismantling the wall between religion and government. The motto ‘In God We Trust’ is inaccurate, exclusionary, and aimed at brainwashing American schoolchildren into believing that our nation is a theocracy,” the FFRF said in a Facebook post.
A group of students at Stevens High School suggested an alternative version of the motto – that included the names of Buddha and Allah.
But the reality is that our nation was not founded under Buddha or Allah. It was founded under God – the Judeo-Christian God. Click here to pre-order Todd’s forthcoming book, “Culture Jihad: How to Stop the Left From Killing a Nation.”