Texas Schools Just Going Full Christian Nationalist Now

They're forcing schools to put up signs saying 'In God We Trust.'

Christian Nationalism is on the rise, as many lawmakers are making it increasingly clear that they want to live in a theocracy where everyone is forced to at least pretend to be a Christian. As such, many of them have been pushing for laws not only meant to drill holes through the wall between Church and State, but to push Christianity as a social norm that is intrinsic to the very fabric of The United States as a nation.

One such law is the one Texas schools to prominently display signs reading "In God We Trust" as long as said signs are donated by an outside group.

The bill's co-author, Rep. Tom Oliverson, a member of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, is trying to be somewhat careful of his wording in hopes that it won't look super obvious that his intention here is to violate the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. He keeps going on and on about how "unifying" it is for "different faith traditions" to see the phrase prominently displayed in schools, which goes to show you exactly how little he knows about "different faith traditions."

"I strongly believe that the proud and patriotic display of 'In God We Trust' can only have a beneficial effect on our communities and our schools," he said in a statement to ABC13 this week. "I ask people of all faith traditions to join me in support of this unifying, positive, and powerful message."

Beneficial to whom? Certainly not to those who belong to "faith traditions" that are not monotheistic or to atheists. Or even to Jewish people who think it is sacrilegious to write out the whole word "God."

"I think it reminds us that we are a nation that believes in a power greater than ourselves," Oliverson said to KHOU 11 , clearly unaware of the fact that no American is obligated to "believe in a power greater than ourselves" and that trying to "remind" children of that is an act of coercion. It is meant to make those who do not believe in such a power feel left out. According to Pew Research polls, 10 percent of Americans do not, in fact, "believe in a power greater than ourselves" and it is very hard to say "we as a nation" about anything that 1 out of 10 Americans do not believe.

Others were less concerned about trying to make the new law seem like it is not explicitly Christian.

“The national motto, In God We Trust, asserts our collective trust in a sovereign God,” tweeted Sen. Bryan Hughes, who authored the Texas Senate version of the bill.

In a Facebook post, Patriot Mobile, a Conservative Christian cell phone company that is donating many of the signs, wrote that they are "honored to be part of bringing God back into our public schools!"

Naturally a lot of parents are not too happy about this.

"It seems like a clear aggression against the separation of church and state and I don't know why it's necessary," one parent told ABC11. "I don't understand what it's for other than some kind of political stunt."

It's necessary to these people because they are trying to provide anecdotal evidence that the United States is a Christian nation — at least "culturally Christian." They are spreading breadcrumbs wherever they can. They want to be able to say "See, we're a Christian nation! Our schools have signs that say 'In God We Trust' everywhere and children grow up looking at that!," just like they say "See, we are a Christian nation! Look at our money that has 'In God We Trust' written on it!" 

It's also necessary to them because the purpose is, as they like to say, "grooming" children. As Christians.

This nonsense, however, could very likely end up providing a pretty good basis for getting rid of "In God We Trust" entirely. Granted, we very much do not have the Supreme Court for it right now, but in more normal times, a challenge based on this statute in this day and age would make a stronger basis for a challenge than some we've seen before — particularly as Americans have grown increasingly irreligious.

The reason why courts have ruled that having "In God We Trust" as the national motto and printing it on our currency is okay and not a violation of the establishment clause is because it's been considered to be what they call "ceremonial deism" — basically that it has no religious significance and is more about "tradition" than a literal God of any religion.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor explained this supposed "distinction" in Elk Grove School District vs. Newdow:  

There are no de minimis violations of the Constitution – no constitutional harms so slight that the courts are obliged to ignore them. Given the values that the Establishment Clause was meant to serve, however, I believe that government can, in a discrete category of cases, acknowledge or refer to the divine without offending the Constitution. This category of "ceremonial deism" most clearly encompasses such things as the national motto ("In God We Trust"), religious references in traditional patriotic songs such as "The Star-Spangled Banner", and the words with which the Marshal of this Court opens each of its sessions ("God save the United States and this honorable Court"). These references are not minor trespasses upon the Establishment Clause to which I turn a blind eye. Instead, their history, character, and context prevent them from being constitutional violations at all.

Of course, most of our "ceremonial deism," rather than being a longstanding tradition, is something that popped up right around the Cold War for the specific purposes of differentiating ourselves from the "godless Commies."

But the fact is, it absolutely does have religious significance for those putting these signs up, and many of them have been rather clear about that. These are not people or groups who would put up signs of devotion to some generic, insert-your-own-beliefs-here God. Doing that something like that would be a mortal sin, or whatever the Protestant version of that is. I don't know a lot about the Christian God, but it seems like he's pretty specific about the way he'd like to be worshiped, and that very likely does not include in a way in which he is grouped together with other Gods of other faith traditions. He's only supposed to be grouped together with his son and a bird and that's it.

The fact that it is has true religious significance means that it's not just ceremonial deism. The fact that it is meant to "[remind] us that we are a nation that believes in a power greater than ourselves" is coercion. Both of those things are violations of the Establishment clause.

"In God We Trust" should not be in schools and it should not be on our money. There is literally no reason to bring up God in schools in any way not related to an actual educational subject. It's unnecessary.

 Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .

Wonkette is independent and fully funded by readers like you. Click below to tip us!