A North Texas school board denied the request of community members to display signs bearing the motto “In God We Trust” in Arabic.
The Carroll school district says they already have enough signs that bear the saying.
“Why is more God not good?” resident Srivan Krishna said at the school board meeting earlier this week.
The request for the Arabic signs came as a form of protest to a Texas law requiring all public schools in the state to display a poster with the phrase. The only requirements are the state cannot pay for the posters and they must include the Texas and U.S. flag.
Mr. Krishna confronted school board members on their decision to reject the posters.
“It doesn’t say you have to stop at one. So that is your decision to stop at one.” He said. “I think it’s kind of un-American to reject posters of our national motto.”
School board President Cameron Bryan avoided many of the arguments Mr. Krishna made at the meeting and insisted that they had accepted enough donated signs.
“The statute does not contemplate requiring the district to display more than one copy at a time,” Mr. Bryan said at the meeting.
Other speakers joined Mr. Krishna at the meeting to express their disappointment at the board’s decision, while pointing out that the signs were designed by students from the area.
This week’s confrontation is the latest in a growing battle over the Texas law.
Activist Chaz Stevens is leading the charge against the law and has raised over $40,000 in a GoFundMe to create more controversial versions of the sign, including displaying the motto in Vulcan. Mr. Stevens objects to what he sees as an overtly religious message being displayed in public schools.
“This should be irritating for you, regardless of what God or not-God you believe in,” he told NPR.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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