Posted on 01/24/2002 4:46:09 PM PST by DNA Rules
Virginia Bill Would Bring National Motto into the Classroom (CNSNews.com) - The Virginia House of Delegates is expected to take a final vote Thursday on a bill requiring every Virginia public school to post a sign bearing the national motto, "In God We Trust." The bill received preliminary approval on Wednesday. Del. Robert Marshall (R-Prince William), the bill's sponsor, says it is particularly important after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to post the motto invoking God in Virginia schools. But on the opposite side of the argument, people who consider the motto "religious graffiti" don't even want it on U.S. currency, never mind in public schools. The current bill, unlike one that died last year, would allow schools to accept private contributions to defray the cost of the "In God We Trust" posters. The motto was placed on U.S. currency, beginning with a two-cent coin in 1864, largely because of increased religious sentiment during the Civil War. In 1865, Congress passed a bill allowing the motto to appear on all gold and silver coins; and it appeared on all U.S. coins starting in 1938.
Of course! He's omnipotent, right?
He's also eternal. So think through what you are saying. Once G-d waves his wand and says "poof! you believe!" you will believe for all time. This means that your brain will be programmed such that you can no longer entertain the thought of unbelief. You could not test your faith, test your positions, or test your outlook. When people present information suggesting that G-d does not exist you could not entertain the thought sufficiently to evaluate the validity of their arguments. This would be true for forever. You could not go back to the person who could freely evaluate religious issues. You would no longer be who you are, forever!
Think very carefully. If G-d came to you in a vision and said to you, "I will give you one thing. It can be anything you want and I will do it." Is that really what you would want Him to do?
Shalom.
Feb 11, 2002
Modified `In God We Trust' bill advances
LARRY O'DELL
Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Legislation requiring Virginia public schools to post signs saying ``In God We Trust'' advanced to the Senate floor Monday after a committee amended the bill to put the message in a more secular context.
The Education and Health Committee voted 9-6 to endorse the bill, sponsored by Sen. Nick Rerras, R-Norfolk. The Senate will vote on the bill Tuesday.
``In God We Trust'' has appeared on the nation's coins since 1908 and was designated by Congress as the official national motto 46 years ago, Rerras said.
``The nation has long recognized this motto as very inspirational,'' he said. ``The motto gives us hope for the future, and it helps us persevere in difficult times.''
Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, proposed the amendment to add after ``In God We Trust'' the notation: ``National motto enacted by Congress, 1956.''
Houck said he wanted to make sure students view the motto from a historical perspective rather than a religious one.
``The reality is that this is the motto of this nation,'' he said. ``On that level, it doesn't offend me. But if this is an attempt to indoctrinate, I've got a problem with it.''
The amendment did not satisfy all of the bill's critics.
``When you start to do these kind of things you wind up not furthering a belief in God but trivializing it,'' said Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax.
Sen. Janet Howell, D-Reston, said the message is inherently religious even with Houck's amendment. She said it is improperly to force such a message on an increasingly diverse population.
``We are trampling on people's rights,'' she said. ``The result is harmful to families, to children and ultimately to the religious freedom we all hold dear.''
However, Houck said public schools already routinely post the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the phrase, ``One nation under God.''
``That posting has not brought down Western civilization,'' Houck said. ``I don't think this is the end of the world.''
The House of Delegates has passed bills requiring public schools and courthouses to post ``In God We Trust.'' Those bills will be heard next by the same committee that revised and endorsed the Rerras bill.
Bill to post motto in schools approved
By LOUIS HANSEN, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 13, 2002RICHMOND -- Students have long turned to him in trouble and in good fortune.
They've asked him for strength to conquer challenges great and small.
They've beseeched him when pop quizzes and calculus finals plopped down on their desks.
Next fall, Virginia students may very well be seeing him every day in the hallways of their public school.
A bill to require posting the national motto, ``In God We Trust,'' in every public school won easy approval Tuesday in the Senate.
The measure, SB608, introduced by Norfolk Sen. Nick Rerras, requires public school boards to prominently and conspicuously post ``In God We Trust, the National Motto, enacted by Congress in 1956.''
A similar measure sailed through the Republican-dominated House of Delegates. The bill must be signed by the governor to become law.
Rerras, a Republican, said the country was founded on Christian principles, and the motto has a long history dating to the early 19th century.
He argued that during times of crisis, like that following Sept. 11, public school children can draw strength and patriotism from the words. ``It gives inspiration and hope,'' he said.
This week, it brought heated debate.
Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said the bill and other measures that passed the House requiring the motto to be posted in other government buildings would trivialize religion and faith.
He added that it would do nothing to promote moral behavior or inspire patriotism. ``Believe you me,'' he said, ``this is not where patriotism comes from.''
On Monday, Saslaw and other Democrats on the Senate Education and Health Committee argued that the prominent posting would be offensive to non-Christians.
Sen. R. Edward Houck, who eventually supported an amended version of the bill, asked Rerras if he was bringing the proposal as an act of religious faith.
Rerras, a devout Christian, responded that he believed in the motto. ``I'm not trying to advance any faith or sect or religion,'' he said.
The measure also allows the attorney general to provide legal defense for local school boards if the law is challenged.
Religious libertyTHERE IS WIDESPREAD consternation over the flurry of what have been dubbed ``God bills" in the Virginia Legislature this year.
The General Assembly passed a bill requiring schools to post the national motto ``In God We Trust." A similar measure to post the Ten Commandments died last week in the Senate after clearing the House of Delegates.
Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Arlington www.freedomforum.org, says this phenomenon is nothing new. A turn to religion has occurred during every major crisis in American history.
``In God We Trust" showed up on coins after the Civil War - a reaction, Haynes pointed out, ``to what many people felt was God's judgment on America."
Congress made it the national motto in 1954 during the Red Scare, another time of fear and shaken national confidence, when the words ``under God" were also added to the Pledge of Allegiance.
But Haynes, an expert on the First Amendment, told The Journal there is a way to reconcile free religious expression, even in public schools, with the Constitution's clear dictate that ``government has no business imposing, endorsing or denigrating religion."
Although many people still have ``a distorted image of public schools as `religion-free zones,'" two states, liberal California and conservative Utah, have statewide projects focused on promoting religious liberty in public education.
The so-called 3R projects (rights, responsibilities and respect) train educators to respect the religious freedom of their students, including their right not to profess any religion at all, while teaching them about other religions in a way that passes both educational and constitutional muster.
Over the past decade, Haynes says, a consensus has gradually emerged that religion not only can be, but should be taught in public schools without violating students' religious liberties or the Constitution's clear prohibitions.
The First Amendment Center has a teachers' guide now being used in Utah and California. It has 23 sponsors, including the National Education Association, the American Jewish Congress, the National Association of Evangelicals and the Islamic Council on Education.
The outline, sent to every school district in the nation in January 2000, is ``a comprehensive guide to getting it right," Haynes said.
``Many people believe the First Amendment keeps all religion out" of public schools. But teachers and administrators following the guide learn that students have a constitutional right to distribute religious literature, share their faith with other students and pray either alone or in groups - as long as those activities are not disruptive.
The Utah 3Rs project began in 1997, the one in California in 1994. Instead of providing fodder for lawsuits, just the opposite has happened.
``These projects are preventive lawyering," Haynes said. ``They are what keeps school districts from having to deal with court challenges. Districts with the program are less likely to have a court challenge than districts that don't have such a policy in place."
The Virginia Department of Education should look into a statewide 3R program for some preventive legislating as well.
I doesn't matter. You can't polish a turd.
Eliminate public education!
Courtroom ''In God We Trust'' bill sent to governor
Associated Press
© February 20, 2002RICHMOND -- Legislation requiring judges to post ``In God We Trust'' signs in state courtrooms is on its way to Gov. Mark R. Warner's desk, where its fate is uncertain.
Warner has not taken a position on the bill and will have his counsel analyze whether it is constitutional, spokeswoman Ellen Qualls said.
Even if Warner signs the bill, Virginians are unlikely to see the signs displayed in courtrooms anytime soon. The Senate added an amendment requiring the state to pay for the signs, but there is no money in the proposed state budget for that purpose.
Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, did not object to the Senate amendment when his bill was returned to the House on Wednesday. Delegates voted 94-5 to accept the amendment and send the bill to Warner's desk.
The House and Senate have passed slightly different versions of a bill to require public schools to post ``In God We Trust'' signs. That legislation, which does not include the funding requirement, has not yet been sent to the governor.
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