By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League
November 8, 2013
Congress adopted “In God We Trust” as the national motto in 1956, never dreaming that less than six decades later, the simple, four-word phrase would be banned from public schools, at least in North Carolina’s Watauga County, where American Legion Post 130 has been told they can’t display their 16-by-20-inch motto posters.
“We got an e-mail from the school saying thank you but on advice of their legal counsel they could not accept the posters because of separation of church and state,” Rick Cornejo, a Legion member and pastor of Mount Paran Baptist Church in Deep Gap, told the media.
The American Legion has been using the framed posters, produced by American Family Association, in a statewide campaign to promote the nation’s motto in schools and businesses.
The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, said the Watauga County School Board’s response is not only a misinterpretation of the Constitution, but a direct violation of state law that expressly orders local boards of education to “allow and encourage” the posting of “writings, documents, and records that reflect the history of the United States.”
See North Carolina Law: click here
“North Carolina law goes so far as to list a number of recommended documents, including the national motto,” Dr. Creech said. “This statute could not be more explicit.”
The law goes on to say that local boards “shall not allow content-based censorship of American history in the public schools of this State, including religious references in these writings, documents, and records.”
Cornejo said many Watauga County educators have asked for the posters, which are being used in nearly every classroom in a neighboring district, but have been informed by their school board that they cannot display them.
The AFA, which has pledged to provide enough posters for every public classroom in Watauga free of charge, is calling on Christians to e-mail Gov. Pat McCrory and State Attorney General Roy Cooper, asking that North Carolina law be upheld so that a school district may not censor the national motto in its classrooms.
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See related Fox News story: North Carolina school district rejects ‘In God We Trust’ posters