FAITH UNDER FIRE

COPS TOLD TO SCRUB NATIONAL MOTTO FROM PATROL CARS

Atheists warn law-enforcement agencies to remove 'In God We Trust'

Bob Unruh

An atheist organization has dispatched letters to 17 law-enforcement agencies across a half a dozen states telling them to take the words of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” off their officers’ vehicles.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation sent the letters, protesting that the message is one of “exclusion” for people who identify as nonreligious.

“Spending taxpayer time placing religious messages on patrol cars is beyond the scope of secular government. Further, in a time when citizens nationwide are increasingly distrustful of police actions, it is frightening and politically dubious to announce to citizens that law enforcement officers rely on the judgment of a deity rather than on the judgment of the law,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, an executive for the group.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, however, sent letters to the same agencies advising them not to worry because they have a right to display the motto.

“You recently received a letter from Freedom From Religion Foundation objecting to the decision by members of your department to display our national motto – ‘In God We Trust’ – on department vehicles,” the letters explain. “FFRF wrongly claims that it is ‘inappropriate’ for members of your team ‘to promote their religious views’ by displaying our national motto.

“We write to inform you that it does not violate the First Amendment for your team to continue displaying the national motto on department vehicles and to offer our assistance if FFRF or any other atheist group threatens your department with litigation over the use of ‘In God We Trust.’”

The letter from David Cortman, ADF’s vice president of litigation, as well as Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco and Legal Counsels Matt Sharp and Rory Gray, noted federal courts repeatedly have ruled in favor of displaying the motto.

The letter explains FFRF was “repudiated” by a federal court nearly 20 years ago when a judge’s ruling said: “The motto symbolizes the historical role of religion in our society, formalizes our medium of exchange, fosters patriotism and expresses confidence in the future. The motto’s primary effect is not to advance religion; instead, it is a form of ‘ceremonial deism’ which through historical usage and ubiquity cannot be reasonably understood to convey government approval of religious belief. Finally, the motto does not create an intimate relationship of the type that suggests unconstitutional entanglement of church and state.”

Then, last year, ADF reported “the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected a legal challenge by FFRF and other atheists to the placement of ‘In God We Trust’ on U.S. currency.”

“Over the last 40 years, there has been a wave of legal challenges to the use of the national motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ on United States coins and currency. But decisions from federal courts have repeatedly and consistently rejected claims that use of the national motto violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment,” ADF said.

“Americans should not be forced to abandon their heritage simply to appease the animosity of anti-religious groups toward anything that references God,” said Sharp. “These departments should simply ignore the unfounded demands from these groups, especially since courts have upheld the national motto in a wide variety of other contexts for decades.”

“We applaud the courageous decision of your department to raise public awareness of our national motto in the face of intense opposition from groups like FFRF. If your department is sued for its display of the motto, our team of attorneys would appreciate the opportunity to discuss the possibility of representing your department free of charge,” the letters from ADF said.

Agencies that had been contacted by the FFRF and subsequently received an ADF letter included the Bay County sheriff’s office in Florida; the Bonifay police department in Florida, the Marion County sheriff’s office in Florida, the Walton County sheriff’s office in Florida, the Jefferson County sheriff’s office in Illinois, the Greenup County sheriff’s office in Kentucky, the Amory police department in Mississippi, the Brookfield police department in Missouri, the Laclede County sheriff’s department in Missouri, the Lawrence County sheriff’s office in Missouri, the Linn County sheriff’s office in Missouri, the Ralls County sheriff’s office in Missouri, the Randolph County sheriff’s office in Missouri, the Stone County sheriff’s department in Missouri, the Halifax County sheriff’s office in North Carolina, the Elizabethton police department in Tennessee and the Culpeper County sheriff’s office in Virginia.

“It’s shameful for groups like Freedom From Religion Foundation to target police departments and the men and women who honorably serve our citizens with these completely illegitimate demands,” said Sharp. “We hope these departments will disregard these demands as the distortions of the First Amendment that they obviously are.”

FFRF’s letter said: “Citizens interact with and rely on law enforcement officers during some of the most urgent and vulnerable times of their lives. These citizens should not be made to feel offended, excluded and like political outsiders because the local government they support with their taxes oversteps its power by prominently placing a religious statement on department vehicles.”

The group said 23 percent of Americans identify as nonreligious.

“It stands to reason at least some of your staff are nonreligious. ‘In God We Trust’ is thus not even accurate. For it to be accurate, it would have to read, ‘In God Some of Us Trust.’

“We urge you remove ‘In God We Trust’ from” department vehicles.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/cops-told-to-scrub-national-motto-from-patrol-cars/#GoL7BcdStuVwMkHI.99

My comments: The godless, Socialist, Secular Humanist HATE God and His Word, because His Word tells them that what they do is Evil. (John 7:7)