SPRINGFIELD – Despite opposition from some in the audience, the Greene County Commission unanimously approved a resolution June 20 to display the logo “In God We Trust” below the county seal, directly behind the commissioners’ chairs in the hearing room at the Greene County Courthouse. Presiding Commissioner Jim Viebrock and Associate Commissioners Harold Bengsch and Rosanne Bentley deserve our thanks for displaying our national motto “In God We Trust” at our county courthouse. It is displayed in Congress and is a matter of federal law and statute.
Presidents Washington, Lincoln and nearly every other president has repeated the phrase, especially when declaring an annual National Day of Prayer.
In 1814 Francis Scott Key, composing The Star Spangled Banner, penned “And this be our Motto, in God is our Trust,” and in 1831 Congress adopted this as our National Anthem. In 1864 Congress placed “In God We Trust” on certain coins. Currently, this motto is now on every single bill and coin in your pocket. The U.S. Supreme Court has backed away from earlier court rulings regarding any total separation of church and state and ordered an “accommodation” between the two. God’s name is contained in dozens of national monuments and thousands of state monuments throughout our nation.
As our nation and communities become more mixed and diverse with foreign people coming to our country, both legally and illegally, it may also be time to proudly display the words on the Great Seal of the United States, “E pluibus unum, Out of many, one.”
We pledge allegiance to the United States (in English) and when foreign folks from to our nation and take the sworn oath of citizenship, they should respect our national traditions, culture and history, just as we respect theirs when we visit abroad.
More than 100 cities and towns in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma and 200 more across the national are presently displaying our National Motto. Locally, Anderson, Billings, Bolivar, Branson, Buffalo, Butler, Camdenton, Carthage, Clever, Jefferson City, Marshfield, Osceola, Ozark, Salem, Stockton, West Plains and many others have unanimously joined.
May God continue to bless America.
Dee Wampler / Springfield Attorney