This past week a bill was introduced to place a plaque with the words “In God We Trust” in every school in a prominent place.

From the May 17th edition of the News & Observer:

North Carolina public schools could soon become a little more religious, if the General Assembly passes a new bill that would force schools to display signs saying “In God We Trust.”

The bill would require all public schools, both traditional and charter, to put a sign displaying both the national motto of “In God We Trust” and the state motto of “To Be Rather Than To Seem” in a prominent place on campus (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article211333674.html). 

This is simply hypocritical to many- in an election year nonetheless.

To some, it is simply trying to appeal to the evangelical vote for the primary sponsors.

Take a visit to the website for the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation – http://cpcfoundation.com/. That’s .COM. It’s commercially driven.

Now take a look at the North Carolina Caucus members – http://cpcfoundation.com/north-carolina-prayer-caucus-members/. See some familiar names? That’s right. All four of the primary sponsors of this bill are members. Two are even the co-chairs of the North Carolina Delegation.

• Representative Bert Jones, Co-Chair
• Representative Dean Arp, Co-Chair
• Representative Linda Johnson
• Representative Phil Shepherd

These four lawmakers (among others in the NCGA) abide by the CPCF’s Vision and Mission which state,

• Protect religious freedom, preserve America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and promote prayer.
• The CPCF will restore and promote America’s founding spirit and core principles related to faith and morality by equipping and mobilizing a national network of citizens, legislators, pastors, business owners and opinion leaders.

All in the name of religious freedom. Talk about your separation of church and state.

As a teacher in a public school, it is not my job to indoctrinate students with religious dogma. It should not be the job of a school plaque to do the same thing.

If a student comes into my classroom, I will do my best to teach him or her. It does not matter if the student is a Christian, pagan, atheist, agnostic, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, or believes in many gods. It does not matter is the student is straight, gay, or identifies as transgender. It does not matter if the student is a Dreamer, first-generation immigrant, or someone whose family line runs generations in NC.

The public school walls should be as accepting.

Besides, I do not want a lawmaker telling everyone whom I am supposed to trust when I have so little trust in those who sponsored this bill in the first place.

But if one really wants to have “In God We Trust” to be read in schools, then maybe it should come in this form – many times over: