By M.H. Cavanaugh
Christian Action League
May 15, 2015
The Rockingham County Board of Commissioners is one of the latest governmental entities to approve the installing of the National Motto, “In God We Trust.” The Board unanimously made the decision during its May 4th meeting and plans to display the motto on the Rockingham County Governmental Center.
Rockingham County Commissioner Zane Caldwell told the Greensboro News-Record, “If we can put it on the money in our pockets, then we can have it displayed on our county building.”
The Kings Mountain City Council made the same decision in a 6-1 vote, Tuesday, May 6th. The national motto will be proudly erected in bronze lettering on the front of the Kings Mountain City Hall.
Kings Mountain City Councilman Keith Miller told the Kings Mountain Herald, “The motto is an acknowledgement that is consistent with the mindset of our founders of this country and perfectly legal for the government to display it.”
To date, 43 communities have approved an installment, with more than two dozen having made their decision this year. Twelve communities already have their National Motto up.
The driving force behind what is truly becoming a phenomenon across North Carolina is the US Motto Action Committee. The organization offers placement of the motto at no expense to government bodies. They raise all the funds and pay costs. Their goal is to get the motto installed either within or outside of government buildings in as many communities as possible within all 100 counties in the state.
At the forefront of the effort is Rick Lanier, a former County Commissioner in Davidson County from 1998-2002. In 2002, Lanier led Davidson County Commissioners to approve the display of “In God We Trust” on the exterior of Davidson County’s Governmental Center.
“Soon after that,” says Lanier, “several other surrounding cities and counties joined us in doing the same.”
The words, “In God We Trust” have been on US Currency since 1864. It’s engraved above the entrance of the US Senate Chamber as well as above the Speaker’s Seat in the US House of Representatives. During the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the US Congress adopted, “In God We Trust” as the National Motto.
In November of 2011, the US House of Representatives voted 396-9 to reaffirm “In God We Trust” as the National Motto. The measure was taken-up, in part, because some were erroneously claiming the country’s proper motto was “E Pluribus Unum.”
The resolution passed by the US House also encouraged the placement of the National Motto on government buildings from courthouses to school classrooms. One survey demonstrated 87 % of Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of displays of the National Motto.
Lanier describes the work of the US Motto Action Committee as a “grassroots patriotic movement” that stands on solid legal ground. He says that since Davidson County approved and installed “In God We Trust” on their county building, there has not been one legal challenge raised against any city or county in the Tar Heel state that has done the same. “This effort is legal and there is nothing to challenge,” says Lanier.
Lanier also told the Christian Action League, “We feel compelled to move forward aggressively in the hope of maintaining a remnant of our godly American heritage. Because of the apostasy of our nation and the evil forces of political correctness our religious freedoms are quickly dissipating.” Lanier believes placing the motto on various government buildings calls our state and nation back to its religious moorings.
“I’ve been following this organization’s remarkable success for quite a while now,” said Dr. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “What they’ve been doing is an incredibly marvelous contribution to the full restoration of our nation’s Christian heritage. I not only believe that God looks down from heaven with favor on their work, but so do our nation’s founders, as well as the many who spilled their blood to protect and defend what was a Christian nation – a shining city on a hill for all the world to see and laud. President Ronald Reagan was right when he reminded us that the day we forget we are ‘one nation under God is the day that we will be gone under.’ These displays of the National Motto remind us of the irrefutable truth that our hope is not in our economy, our strength is not in our military, our confidence is not in our intellect or education, our salvation and protection comes from our faith in God alone.”
For more information on the US Motto Action Committee, contact Rick Lanier at 336.798.7700. To make a contribution call or email Lanier at 7thheaven@windstream.net or usmotto02@gmail.com.