Source: USA TODAY

On February 20, 2002, USA TODAY reported that "patriotic fervor in the wake of the terrorist attacks has helped revive an effort to post the words 'In God We Trust' in every school in the nation... 'This has exploded because of 9/11,' says Donald Wildmon, president of the American Family Association... Leaders of the fundamentalist Christian group have been working for three years to persuade states to display the national motto in school libraries, cafeterias and classrooms. The group even pledged to defend in court any legal challenges to new state laws that would allow the display, and to supply schools with 11-by-14-inch 'In God We Trust' posters suitable for framing... Mississippi had been the only state to pass such a law. But three months after the terrorist attacks, Michigan adopted the requirement as part of homeland security legislation. At least eight more states are poised to pass similar measures -- over the objections of those who say such displays would violate the separation of church and state... 'This is no more than a means to get religion in the schools through the back door,' says Larry Spalding of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has not yet formally challenged any of the laws."