Harris donates signs to schools

Oct. 11—New signs displaying the national motto "In God We Trust" are being hung in schools across Texas House District 8 after a generous donation from Rep. Cody Harris (R-Palestine).

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law officially declaring "In God We Trust" to be the nation's official motto on July 30, 1956, just two years after pushing to have "under God" inserted into the pledge of allegiance.

During the last state legislative session, Texas Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) authored Senate Bill 797 requiring public schools and colleges to display donated "In God We Trust" signs in prominent places on their campuses. U.S. Rep. Jake Ellzey, a former Texas Representative, was one of the 25 co-sponsors of the bill.

In response to Senate Bill 797, Harris has donated 195 of the signs to approximately 35 different Texas school districts, some from the former House District 8 and some from the new House District 8. Harris said he wanted to be sure that if any school districts he represented had not had signs donated, they could get them.

"Much of the cultural decay that we see in our society today can be traced back directly to our abandonment of our founding Judeo-Christian values and our removal of God from our public conversations," Harris said. "While these signs do not even begin to fix this sad reality, my hope is that this simple acknowledgment that all of our nation's blessings come from Him will ignite a new desire to know Him among our students and teachers. Only at that point will we see healing and unity in our sharply divided world."

This new Texas Law received extensive media attention in August after the Carroll school board declined to accept the donation of signs displaying the national motto, including one where the motto is written in Arabic and two others displaying the rainbow colors like the Pride flag.

The new law states that a public school or university/college "must" display in a prominent place in each building of the school or institution a durable poster or framed copy which limits displays to one poster or frame copy of the United States National motto, "In God We Trust," if the poster or framed copy is donated. Limitations were set in an effort to not overwhelm schools with donations.

The donated signs must meet two main criteria for it to be required to be displayed:

1. "Contain a representation of the United States flag centered under the national motto and a representation of the state flag."

2. "May not depict any words, images or other information" besides what is required by the first criterion.

The signs cannot be purchased by the school but must be displayed if donated. The law took effect Sept. 1, 2021.