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"In God We Trust" signs are popping up in Texas classrooms following a new state law that requires schools to display the posters if they are donated.
Senate Bill 797 passed through the Texas legislature last year requiring schools to display the posters in a "conspicuous place" as long as they were "donated" or "purchased by private donations" which has resulted in the signs being displayed across the state recently, FOX 7 Austin.
Patriot Mobile, a Texas-based cell phone company, donated several signs to the Carroll Independent School District that are currently on display.
"Patriot Mobile has donated framed posters to many other school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and we will continue to do so until all the schools in the area receive them," the company posted on Facebook. "We are honored to be part of bringing God back into our public schools!"
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Classroom with empty wooden desks. (iStock)
The Houston Chronicle reported that similar signs were spotted around the Texas cities of Houston and Austin.
"The national motto, In God We Trust, asserts our collective trust in a sovereign God," Texas Republican State Sen. Bryan Hughes, who sponsored the legislation, said on Twitter. "I co-authored the bill in 2003 that allowed schools to display the motto, and last year I authored the ‘In God We Trust Act,’ which requires a school to display the motto if there is no cost associated with the display."
Bryce Nieman, spokesperson for the Keller Independent School District, told that donated signs are being displayed mainly in front offices.
A Keller resident and parent of a child in the school district expressed support for the measure.
"If it’s important to communities, the community will come behind it," Erik Leist told FOX 7. "If it’s not something that the community values, it’s not gonna end up in the school."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas on June 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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Not everyone is pleased with the new law including the founder of the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition who told KXAS-TV that the law raises concerns about the separation of church and state.
"I feel like they don’t have a choice right now to put them up," Anya Kushwaha said. " But hopefully this will spark larger conversations about having more freedom of expression, so if they are allowed to put up signs like this there should be no reasons that other students or people can’t put up signs that have different messaging."
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