A North Carolina Sheriff has put “In God We Trust” Decals on his patrol Cars. And he thanks a local church for making it happen.
The phrase is being added to marked vehicles used by the Rutherford Sheriff’s Department with the Fairview Baptist Church in Golden Valley picking up the $400 tab.
Sheriff Chris Francis hopes the funding arrangement heads off complaints from atheists that the decals amount to illegal government support of religion.
Meanwhile Reverend David Ledford of Fairview Baptist said “We’re not doing to this to thumb in the eye anyone. We’re trying to do this for unity’s sake.”
Sheriff Francis told Fox Carolina that he put the decals on cars “to make sure that deputies know what ‘In God We Trust’ means and how blessed we are to be citizens in America, to live in western North Carolina and to be able to support our nation’s motto.”
The Wisconsin-based atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation has clashed with dozens of police departments around the country over similar stickers.
Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor sent letters to police agencies across America demanding that departments remove “In God We Trust” from their vehicles to “respect the rights of conscience of all citizens, including those who in good conscience reject belief in a god.”
But Rutherford officials believe the church paying for the stickers removes any reasonable objection. The church funding will pay for decals on the department’s fleet of 50 marked vehicles and any additions or replacements.