LA Lawmakers Force “In God We Trust” Signs Down Public Classroom Throat

On June 08, 2023, the Louisiana legislature sent to the governor’s desk HB 8, requiring all public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools to display “In God We Trust” in the classroom. The Louisiana senate approved the bill on June 07, 2023.

The law is to take effect four school years from this writing, on August 01, 2026.

Concerning Louisiana’s K12 public classrooms, the bill’s text is as follows:

The program of instruction on patriotic customs required by this Section shall include instruction on the national motto, “In God We Trust”, and each public school governing authority shall display the national motto in each building it uses and classroom in each school under its jurisdiction. The nature of the display shall be determined by each governing authority with a minimum requirement that the national motto shall be displayed on a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches. The motto shall be the central focus of the poster or framed document and shall be printed in a large, easily readable font.

This Section does not require a public school governing authority to spend its funds to purchase national motto displays. A governing authority may spend its funds or donated funds to purchase the displays and may accept donated displays.

The State Board of Elementary and SecondaryEducation shall adopt rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act to ensure the proper implementation of this Section.

A section is also included specifically for Louisiana’s charter schools, which basically says, “Yes, you get to dodge rules applying to Louisiana’s traditional public schools, but not this one”:

Notwithstanding any state law, rule, or regulation to the contrary and except as may be otherwise specifically provided for in an approved charter, a charter school established and operated in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter and its approved charter and the school’s officers and employees shall be exempt from all statutory mandates or other statutory requirements that are applicable to public schools and to public school officers and employees except for the following laws otherwise applicable to public schools with the same grades:

Flag and patriotic customs of the United States, R.S. 17:262.

HB 8 includes similar language for “In God We Trust” displays in postsecondary classrooms, instructing postsecondary management boards in similar language to the K12 public schools (i.e., minimum size of 11″ x 14″ for displays in all classrooms; may accept donated displays).

Donated displays.

Here’s where this demand of patriotic display might morph into the truly American, with a refreshing injection of creativity and freedom. For instance, as the June 07, 2023, Louisiana Illuminator notes in its article, “Arabic ‘In God We Trust’ Signs Will Test Limits of Louisiana’s Law”:

Some schools across Louisiana will soon receive free “In God We Trust” signs to hang in their classrooms, though the designs might not be what some state lawmakers had in mind when they passed the new mandate Tuesday.

As the bill awaits the governor’s signature, activist Chaz Stevens has already begun donating his own unique designs of the motto to schools across the state. Some are written in Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish and other languages, while others have rainbow-colored backgrounds in support of LGBTQ+ students. Some even bear pentagram images for those who worship a Satanic god.

Stevens, a tech entrepreneur from Deerfield Beach, Florida, said in an interview that he wants to find out if Louisiana’s legislators and school officials actually respect the First Amendment for all religions and cultures or just their own. 

That is the question: Do Louisiana lawmakers truly respect the rights of all fellow citizens to freedom of religious exercise and freedom of speech? Or are they just trying to promote some preferred Christian nationalism?

Lawmaker reaction to, say, the words, “In God We Trust,” superimposed over a picture of the Quran would be quite telling.

Of course, Americans are already repeatedly exposed to the slogan daily, and one could just post an enlargement of the backside of the Almighty Dollar for a more realistic view of the god many (including legislators) truly revere.

Those who trust in God do not come to do so via government-imposed displays, including from force-fed, blow-up posters of a slogan already imprinted on every US dollar they spend.

However, in choosing their mandated poster responses, Louisiana’s public elementary, secondary, and postsecondary teachers and students will be sending a message right back to those Louisiana legislators. You can be sure of that.

Chaz Stevens

Chaz Stevens

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