Anger over Texas mandate requiring ‘In God We Trust’ posters in every school: ‘Religion imposed on public’

Texas schools have begun receiving “In God We Trust” posters after a new state law came into effect requiring the motto’s display on all campuses, sparking anger and alarm.

The law, passed last year, requires all elementary and secondary schools in the state to “display in a conspicuous place in each building of the school or institution a durable poster or framed copy of the United States national motto” if posters were donated to the school districts.

Texas state Republican senator Bryan Hughes who claimed to have authored the “In God We Trust Act”, said the enforcement “asserts our collective trust in a sovereign God”.

“We just felt like it was a great opportunity to display our national motto in our public schools,” state representative Tom Oliverson, another Republican to co-author the bill, told KHOU.

“This was an idea I had after seeing something similar happen in a couple different states.”

Organisations and people have started donating the posters to schools in Texas.

The Carroll Independent School District in Dallas suburb Southlake last week received framed posters of the motto from Patriot Mobile, an organisation which claims to be “America’s only Christian conservative wireless provider”.

“Patriot Mobile is honored to donate these posters to CISD and we’re very excited to see them amongst all of our schools,” said Scott Coburn, the company’s chief marketing officer.

The donations, however, did not bode well with civil rights advocates who said the posters seek to forcefully impose religion on all students who come from different backgrounds and are in opposition to secular teachings of the institutions.

Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition (SARC) opposed the distribution of flags.

“SARC is disturbed by the precedent displaying these posters in every school will set and the chilling effect this blatant intrusion of religion in what should be a secular public institution will have on the student body, especially those who do not practice the dominant Christian faith,” the group said in a statement.

Sophie Ellman-Golan of Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) said it reflects “the more casual ways a state can impose religion on the public”.

“Alone, they’re a basic violation of the separation of church and state. But in the broader context, it’s hard not to see them as part of the larger Christian nationalist project,” she said.

Several other school districts across the state, including Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston and Keller Independent School District, have also confirmed receiving the posters.

Texas is not the first state to pass such a law. Several other states in the past have enacted laws to require the display of motto in recent years.

In Virginia’s Chesapeake, the city council made it compulsory for every vehicle to display the “In God We Trust” motto in 2021. The move required a budget of about $87,000.