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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew law requires SD public schools to display 'In God We Trust' on walls
Students in South Dakota can expect to see a new message on their school walls this upcoming school year: the national motto In God We Trust.
A new bill signed by Gov. Kristi Noem took effect this month, requiring all public schools in the state to display the motto.
South Dakota lawmakers who proposed the law told the Associated Press that the requirement was meant to inspire patriotism in the states public schools.
The display must be located in a prominent location in each school, such as the school entryway, cafeteria, or other common areas, according to a summary of the bill. It also must be easily readable and not smaller than twelve inches wide by twelve inches high.
The style of the display will be left up to the school principal and can range from a mounted plaque to student artwork.
The bill also adds that if a lawsuit or complaint is filed against the school as a result of the display, the attorney general shall provide legal representation at no cost.
Concerns about the bill have already sprung up in the state's second-largest city, where an official said the school district has heard talk of a legal challenge.
"We are a conservative area so [support for the bill is] probably about half and half," Rapid City Area Schools district spokeswoman Katy Urban told ABC News. "We have a lot of community members who are very supportive of it, but we've also had a number of people, staff members included, who are very uncomfortable with it."
In May, a group of students from the districts Stevens High School proposed to the school board an alternate version of the motto that included the names of Buddha, Yahweh and Allah, as well as the term "spirit," Urban said. The group noted that the bill seemingly favored Christianity over other religions.
"That conversation didn't go any further," she said. "The board didn't have any conversation about alternative versions."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-law-requires-sd-public-schools-to-display-in-god-we-trust-on-walls/ar-AAEUny7?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)stopdiggin
(11,093 posts)Pardon .. but wasn't "wasting taxpayers money" part of the conservative mantra? Must be my memory slipping away ..
DFW
(54,055 posts)Goodheart
(5,264 posts)to make good little foot soldiers for a government religion.
rurallib
(62,346 posts)dhill926
(16,234 posts)fuck this shit...
walkingman
(7,511 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)"We have too much money in the coffers. Let's set a pile of it on fire, and hand it over to a bunch of lawyers." Because that's going to be the outcome.
Karadeniz
(22,277 posts)ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)Gaia would be a good one to pay attention to right now.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,539 posts)I'm not sure how such an invocation can be considered to be "patriotic," since it references the Judeo-Christian deity. "E Plurbius Unum" seems more appropriate to our nation, although the Repugs would probably prefer "Mine ego habeo tam vilis." ("I've got mine, so fuck you." )
Personally, I think posting "In God We Trust" is a gateway drug to get the Ten Commandments posted in every government building.
procon
(15,805 posts)So the citizens of South Dakota can't be a real patriot unless they are devout Christians? Forcing a state enforced religion on groups of captive children sounds very un-American.
I'm pretty sure that multiple Constitutional rights have just been shredded. The churchified need should try recruiting new members based of the merits of their creed, not use the mighty machinery of the state to coerce children or brainwash them.
There must be many other religions that this state law has just excluded, not to mention atheists, and all of them will be forced to quell their beliefs and acknowledge the new state mandated religious law.
Hopefully the ACLU or other lawyerly group will roll on this nonsense.
DeminPennswoods
(15,246 posts)and won't remember it once they graduate. They're too busy with their own social world to notice some slogan painted on a wall.