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Opinion: USA posters in schools sends a historical, not religious, message

Opinion: USA posters in schools sends a historical, not religious, message


Every time we go to the store, pay for coffee or order a pizza with our friends, we use currency that clearly displays the motto “In God we Trust,” on our bills and coins.

 However, when this motto was recently printed on patriotic signs that were given out to local organizations this month by The American Legion Post 130, the Watauga County school system declined to place them in the schools because it was deemed inappropriate by the school system’s legal counsel, according to the Watauga Democrat.

 The poster itself is simply a picture of an American flag with yellow text over top reading “In God We Trust.”
Underneath is written “The national motto of the United States of America. Adopted by Congress on July 30th, 1956.” Nothing about this poster is specific to religion.

 When we were taught to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school, many of us were also taught that “one nation under God” could be applied to any religion that involved deities.

According to the Watauga Democrat, a representative of the American Legion, Rick Cornejo, spoke with the Watauga Board of Education arguing that the poster had more of a historical significance rather than a religious one.

 “Students should be more exposed to historical information,” Cornejo said in an interview with the Watauga Democrat. “Other school systems have allowed similar displays.”

The Watauga County school system is taking these posters to the absolute extreme of political correctness.

Through that political correctness, they are unjustly taking the historical context of the poster and putting it into the context of religion.

I can understand playing on the safe side of a seemingly never-ending debate of not only whether or not religion belongs in schools, but also if it belongs in our government and on our national symbols.

But, at a certain point, we have to learn to let things go. The school should allow these posters and take a refreshing break from the overbearing and stifling nature of extreme political correctness.

Opinion: ELIZABETH MCMICHAEL, Opinion writer

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