Imagine if someone were to ask you to describe a dollar bill to them. Like most Americans, you would probably begin by mentioning how it was green, made of paper, and had a picture of George Washington on it. 

Oh, there’s also that distinguishable phrase on the very top of nearly every single U.S. bill and coin that has ever existed: “In God We Trust,” that’s there too. 

It isn’t often you see someone becoming outraged at the exchange of U.S. currency, yet when it comes to public school children, suddenly, the narrative shifts into arguing that it is an infringement on religious freedom. 

The 158-year-old, four-worded-phrase, which is uniquely American and has even become the adopted official motto of the United States, indeed, is now considered “a blatant intrusion on religion” after being introduced in Texas schools on posters via Senate bill 797.

Perhaps we take the posters down and modify the phrase to say “follow your own star,” “never compromise your principles,” or “to thine own self be true.” God forbid we offend someone by having the name God in schools. 

And yes, opponents to the phrase may be right in arguing there is a direct correlation between the slogan and religiosity. But where is the problem in reinstating the values on which our nation was founded: biblical principles? 

We have God embedded in our court of law (think taking an oath on a Bible or religious text) as well as the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Texas Pledge. God is also in our principal documents:

“They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” reads the U.S. Declaration of Independence. 

The same Creator is in every state constitution, including Texas’s. 

Even founding father Benjamin Franklin went as far as to say that “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”

Still- “Not everyone is Christian,” some argue. And they’re completely right. To this day, we continue to pride ourselves in being a nation of free thought and of diverse religious composition. 

Yet I think we need to revisit the origins of why we instated religious freedom. Perhaps our predominately Christian founding fathers chose the governing principles of liberty because it was first found in the Bible.

We see this as the captives are set free in Exodus. 

“Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom,” as 2 Corinthians 3:17 notes.

The Apostle Paul even calls believers to “stand fast in the liberty in which Christ has set you free.”

Would it be so hard to infer that the pursuit of freedom that our Constitution so calls for was derived from the Protestant fathers’ voyage over to the New World, in which they hoped to worship God autonomously?

In God We Trust, because He has made a way for us to become a free, independent country. It makes sense. 

I’m not arguing that people bend the knee to the same God that I do, however, there must be an understanding that America will not change its core principles for a wave of people who get offended at the mention of a value that has existed since the day our nation was founded, and one that continues to be reflected on a daily basis. 

Because if we do fail to carry this on to the next generation, if schools aren’t educating their students on this same Liberty, we’ll lose it. 

American children must appreciate our nation if we want to remain the “United” States, and one of the freest countries in the world. What better way to do this than through a poster containing our national slogan? That is the true intent behind Senate Bill 797.