A new law in South Dakota now requires all public schools across the state to feature the “In God We Trust” motto on display. Students returning to school this fall will be greeted by the message, which supporters say is meant to “inspire patriotism.”

“Some have plaques, others have it painted on the wall, maybe in a mural setting,” Associated School Boards of South Dakota executive director Wade Pogany said, describing how schools plan to implement the new law. The display of the quote is required to be at least 12 inches by 12 inches in size. In one school “it was within their freedom wall. They added that to a patriotic theme,” he said.

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The Freedom From Religion Foundation has condemned the law, calling it part of a “stealth campaign” to inject religion into state legislation. “The motto ‘In God We Trust’ is inaccurate, exclusionary, and aimed at brainwashing American schoolchildren into believing that our nation is a theocracy,” the organization said in a news release Thursday.

The group urged people to contact their legislators to oppose the law. “Our position is that it’s a terrible violation of freedom of conscience to inflict a godly message on a captive audience of schoolchildren,” co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said….

(Excerpt from CBS News article by Sophie Lewis.)