House Favors Public Display; Gilmore Also Supports Plan

"RICHMOND, Jan 26-A bill that would require all public schools in Virginia to post the national motto, 'In God We Trust,' in a prominent place won preliminary passage today in the House of Delegates.

The measure's sponsor is a Prince William County delegate who is the General Assembly's most vocal standard-bearer for socially conservative causes. But as he stood on the House floor today waving a dollar bill that carries the motto, Republican Robert G. Marshall made a mainstream appeal to lawmakers to expose schoolchildren to what he called a basic American symbol.

'This is not coming from a vast right-wing conspiracy,' Marshall exhorted his colleagues. 'All I'm asking is that the national motto right here simply be made part of the information on the school wall. Who can object to the national motto?'

The motion passed overwhelmingly on a voice vote that will likely be made official Monday.

The bill still needs approval from the Senate and Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R), who enthusiastically backs the idea, spokeswoman Lila White said, to become law. And the Senate already has indicated an interest in school legislation that touches a similar vein: A bill was sent to the floor this week that would require children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning.

The motto already appears on U.S. coins and bills. Marshall said it would promote a 'ceremonial deism' that should appeal to more secular-minded people. It does not matter to Marshal where a school displays the motto, or how. And he said he is confident that the measure, HB 1613, does not violate the constitutional separation between church and state, because the motto has survived numerous court challenges to its display on the nations' currency.

But some question whether a practice that's constitutional in one setting is necessarily constitutional in another. For example, prayers delivered before a legislative session are not allowed in public schools.

'To me, it gets into the sticky wicket of mixing religion and schools, said Del. James J. Dillard II (R-Fairfax), a House leader on education issues who voted against the measure. He suggested that lawmakers were swayed by a politically popular idea. 'It's 'Do you want to vote against this phrase in an election year?''

Prompted by increased religious sentiment during the Civil War, the motto first appeared on the 2-cent coin in 1864. In 1956 Congress declared 'In God We Trust' the country's official motto, and the first paper currency bearing the phrase went into circulation in 1957.

Recently, some states have moved to extend the motto's reach. Georgia's Senate approved a measure this week to display it on the state flag, which is being redesigned because of opposition to the current one, which includes the Confederate battle flag.

Last year, a federal appeals court struck down Ohio lawmakers' use of the state motto, 'With God All Things Are Possible,' on a plaque at the entrance to the state capitol. The court ruled that that motto was tied to the teachings of the New Testament.

But Colorado's Board of Education, meanwhile, issued a resolution that encouraged public schools to post the national motto in school buildings" (Lisa Rein, Washington Post, January 27, 2001).