In God We Still Trust

from the November 06, 2007 eNews issue

"In God We Trust" will be posted in school classrooms and offices all across the Kern High School District in Bakersfield, CA in a poster that also features important documents like the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. District trustees voted 4-1 on Monday night to approve the posters and mandate their display. While the proposal sparked heated debate, supporters promoted the displays as patriotic, and not as political or religious statements.

"In God We Trust" is the United States national motto. It has been stamped on U.S. currency since 1864, when it first appeared on the two-cent coin. All U.S. coins have included the motto since 1938, and it was made the official motto of the United States in 1956. "In God We Trust" makes it into school buildings by the pocketful every day.

Yet, a proposal to include posters of important United States documents in public school classrooms, including the national motto, created a controversy in Bakersfield. Board President Bob Hampton told The L.A. Times he would vote against the posters because they reflect a "spiritual agenda."

"The spiritual side of students belongs at home and at church, not in the educational system," Hampton said.

Bakersfield councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan, on the other hand, pushed the proposal with gusto.

"I encouraged the trustees to put this on the agenda," she said. "It's very important. We need to promote patriotism and promote it in our schools. We can't just assume that the younger generations are going to have that strong love for God and their country the way the older generations do."

On the other end of the country, another group is promoting trust in God in a very practical, hands-on manner. "God's Pit Crew" has been doing national disaster relief for almost 10 years, and this week started a five day project to completely remodel one of the cottages at a children's home in Danville, Virginia.

On Monday about 30 volunteers completely gutted the cottage and by Tuesday they had fresh drywall up and painted. They've re-shingled the roof and have gone through fixing up the children's furniture as well. Soon the cottage, one of several on the Smoky Mountain Children's Home campus, will have new windows and will be ready for the eight children and house parents to move back in.

God's Pit Crew has responded to 11 natural disasters during the past year and a half, and will certainly be bounding out again to answer a need in the love of God. Their ministry and others like it say, "God cares about you."

As winter and Christmas approach, there will be many people desperate to know that God is still trustworthy and that He knows their needs. While Bakersfield schools might have "In God We Trust" hanging on their walls, let's keep that motto written on our hearts, and offer ourselves as tools to help others, to show them His love, and to help them trust Him as well.