Theocracy on the Wall

The Washington Post a few days ago had a story about how South Dakota (and about 10 other states) has passed a law requiring schools to post the words "In God We Trust" prominently on their walls (reprinted in the Star Tribune here). The S.D. law goes so far as specifying the "font" should be at least 12x12"... not sure what that means, since fonts aren't square. But I assume the words should be at least a foot tall and not so condensed that they're hard to read.

Here's a photo from one school that ran with the story, where the words are a lot taller than 12", since the wall appears to be made of cinder blocks (which are 8" tall):


Of course, I have a problem with this law, since the First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...", and that has long been held to include state and local governments as well. And "God," well... see... that's part of religion.

The purveyors of this law have all sorts of phony or possibly misinformed reasons for supporting it, other than pure theocracy (which is their real reason, in my opinion). They say they want to teach children core U.S. principles... they want to "start a discussion and pose fundamental questions: 'What is patriotism about, what is Americanism about?'"

First, plastering a statement in front of children is not the way to start a discussion. It's a way to tell them what is supposedly true and not subject to discussion. Second, what is "Americanism"? (Have you ever heard of Frenchism or Germanism or any other countryism? Isn't it just nationalism?)

As far as whether these words can be used to teach children "core U.S. principles," a letter to the editor in today's Star Tribune from Gregory Kaster, a history prof at Gustavus Adolphus College, puts that to rest:

Contrary to what they claim, [In God We Trust] has nothing to do with the nation’s founding.

In fact, it became the official motto of the United States by an act of Congress only in 1956, more than 150 years after ratification of the Constitution at the height of the Cold War as the nation sought to distinguish itself from atheistic communism abroad. Historical context is crucial to understanding the past (and present), and absent the Cold War, the only national motto state legislators might be able to mandate on public school walls would be the de facto one of E pluribus unum (“Out of many, one”), adopted by an act of Congress in 1782 as part of the Great Seal of the new United States.

That would truly be reaffirming the founders, at least the ones of history rather than those of conservative legislators’ imaginations.

E pluribus unum, or its translation, would be worth having on the walls of every school in the nation, if we have to plaster the walls with something, rather than letting the schools make their own decisions.