(Western Journalism) – Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton has put the minds of worried state legislators at
ease, saying in a new opinion that stickers on police vehicles that read “In
God We Trust” are perfectly legal, shouldn’t be removed, and also that the
sticker policy will easily survive any court challenge aimed at forcing their
removal.
Paxton’s opinion was in response to
a query by Republican state Senator Charles Perry and Rep. Drew Springer, who
wanted to know what they should do about complaints by atheists that the
vehicle stickers violated the separation of church and state.
“Displaying ‘In God We Trust’ on
police vehicles is a passive use of a motto steeped in our nation’s history
that does not coerce citizen approval or participation,” Paxton wrote
in his opinion. “A law enforcement department’s decision to display the
national motto on its vehicles is consistent with that history.”
After reviewing a retinue of court
cases attacking the use of the national motto that was enacted in 1956, Paxton
noted that courts have upheld the display of the motto on public property
because it is “of a patriotic or ceremonial character.” Paxton further cited
cases that maintains that the national motto doesn’t by itself violate the
Establishment Clause because “There is an unbroken history of official
acknowledgment by all three branches of government of the role of religion in
American life from at least 1789.”
Paxton concluded that in his
opinion, the motto would not be ruled unconstitutional by any court and “is
permissible under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”
Texas Republican Governor Greg
Abbott added his own voice to the controversy, saying that he sees no
reason to remove the motto from vehicles. In his letter to AG Paxton, Gov.
Abbott said that this attack on the motto is an attack on religious liberty.
“As you recently observed in a
letter to the lieutenant governor,” Abbott wrote, “‘attacks on religious
liberty harm not only those of religious faith, but they] are a threat to the
freedom of conscience of all Americans.’ These attacks are becoming even more
common. I am grateful that under your leadership, the Office of the Attorney
General fights to vigorously defend rights that are so important to all Texans,
including the right to live and work in accordance with their moral values and
religious beliefs.”
Consequently, the head of the state
agency that atheists went to with their demands to remove the motto from
vehicles unequivocally denied the demand.
“After carefully reading your letter
I must deny your request for the removal of our nation’s motto from our patrol
units, and ask that you and the Freedom From Religion Foundation go fly a
kite,” Adrian Garcia, head of the Childress Police Department, said in his
reply to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
http://www.westernjournalism.com/boom-the-state-of-texas-just-smacked-down-angry-atheists-like-only-texas-would
http://www.teaparty.org/boom-state-texas-just-smacked-angry-atheists-like-texas-128396/
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