Board Puts Faith in 'In God We Trust'

November 7, 2007

Author: Steve Chawkins

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-trust7nov07,1,4858008.story?coll=la-news-religion

After months of contentious debate, a Bakersfield school district has voted to display the phrase "In God We Trust" on the walls of more than 2,300 classrooms, school libraries, administrative offices and the board's meeting room.

Adopted by Congress as the U.S. motto in 1956, the words will be highlighted in a poster along with portions of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the original national motto: e pluribus unum, Latin for "from many, one."

"We're not going to accept the agenda of some radical leftists who want to expunge God from public dialogue," Chad Vegas, an evangelical pastor who sits on the board of the Kern High School District, said in an interview Tuesday. "Instead, we're teaching our citizens -- including our children -- that the very foundation of government is that God gave them unalienable rights that cannot be usurped by the will of the majority or anyone else."