By Suzy Meyer
Journal Editor

A member of the Colorado State Board of Education has written a resolution that, if passed, would ask schools to post the national motto, "In God We Trust." Former State Sen. Ben Alexander, also a member of the board, supports the resolution.

The author of the proposal, Clair Orr of Greeley, says it has nothing to do with religion, but would "up-hold, affirm and celebrate the national heritage and the traditions and values which have been the foundation and the sustenance of our nation."

How can it be about anything but religion? Pretending to separate any mention of God from religion is not only dishonest but sacrilegious, and Orr doesn’t believe it himself. "Why is it that any time we have a national emergency or something, like Columbine, the first thing everyone says is ‘Let’s pray’?" he asks. Prayer comes to mind because of our religious faith, not because our national motto tells us that we trust in God.

Orr says that God should have a presence in our lives, not just in times of trouble but always, and that signs hung in classrooms would provide that. That’s somewhat doubtful. Look how well speed limit signs work, after all. Every coin in our pockets carries that phrase, and yet how often do we ponder it? Every time we spend money? Hardly, and it’s somewhat curious that it appears on coins, considering what Jesus said about rendering unto Caesar.

In the argument against posting the motto on classroom walls, all the reasons not to post the Ten Commandments have been repeated. The most convincing is that such an action is clearly unconstitutional. The best reason is that bridging the separation of church and state is dangerous for Christians’ freedom of religion.

The Founding Fathers were adamant about allowing the government no role in religion because they knew it wasn’t something that could be decided by majority rule. Right now Christians are in the majority, and so we could control the artwork on most classroom walls — until we were outvoted. Then someone else could dictate, democratically, what our children were taught in school about religion. That’s not right; God isn’t the Supreme Being because we’ve elected Him to serve in that capacity, and He can’t be voted out of office by a majority of non-believers.

A far greater problem than prohibitions against prayer in schools and the absence of the Ten Commandments and the national motto on classroom walls is the large number of children who, upon seeing those posters, might honestly say, "God? Who the heck is this God, with His list of things we shouldn’t do? Why should we trust Him?"

Many children never set foot in a church, never attend a single session of Sunday School or Bible School, and never hear their parents talk about God. For those children, the words "In God We Trust" are meaningless. Faith in God — that "trust" discussed in the Bible, in the National Anthem and in our motto — is something that develops over time. Children who gaze upon a nativity scene with shining eyes while singing "Away in a Manger" understand God differently than adults who’ve struggled to understand events like the Columbine shootings. Sometimes that trust bursts upon us; often, though, we have to reach for it, and that’s more easily done as part of a community of faith, where children and adults are guided by those who share their beliefs.