FORNEY, Texas — City Council in this Dallas suburb approved a resolution earlier this week to add "In God We Trust" decals to all city-owned vehicles.
Jay Stinson, who owns Big Jay's Signs and Shirtworks in this city of about 18,000 residents, said he will design and apply the decals for free.
"No taxpayer is going to have to pay anything, and it shows what 'In God We Trust' stands for, and it's a great, great thing," said Stinson, who also lives here.
Police cars with the motto aren't violating the Constitution's establishment clause, which prohibits government from "establishing" a religion, according to a legal opinion that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued in November.
"Displaying 'In God We Trust' on police vehicles is a passive use of a motto steeped in our nation's history that does not coerce citizen approval or participation," wrote Paxton, who also cited a 1984 Supreme Court ruling on city-sponsored Christmas displays that called the motto a constitutional reference to our religious heritage.
Police departments across the USA, including several in Texas, are affixing the phrase to their patrol cars. Among the agencies in the past six months:
• In Arkansas, the Scott County Sheriff's Department began displaying the motto on its vehicles in September, and the Johnson County Sheriff's office followed in October, officials from each department wrote on their Facebook pages.
• In Mississippi, Walthall County Sheriff Kyle Breland received approval from his county board to put "In God We Trust" stickers on the backs of patrol cars, WAPT-TV, Jackson, Miss., reported. The city of Byram police added the motto in October and the Wayne County Sheriff's Department came on board in January, joining at least three other departments.
• In Oklahoma, the LeFlore County Sheriff's Office added its decals in January, according to KFSM-TV, Fort Smith, Ark.
• In Tennessee, Unicoi County Sheriff Mike Hensley said in February that he was using his own money to buy decals for his department's four vehicles, WJHL-TV, Johnson City-Kingsport, Tenn., reported.
• In Virginia, Abingdon police and the Dickenson County Sheriff's Office added the stickers to their bumpers in March after private, faith-based organizations agreed to pay for the project, according to WJHL-TV. York-Poquoson Sheriff J.D. "Danny" Diggs affixed the phrase to his patrol cars in January, paying $1,480 himself, and Tazewell County sheriff's vehicles also began displaying the phrase in January.
"History is on my side, the courts are on my side, the legislature is on my side, and I think certainly God is on my side as well," Diggs said at the time.
In August, the Missouri Sheriff's Association voted to put "In God We Trust" on all sheriffs' patrol vehicles across the state, KMIZ-TV, Columbia, Mo., reported.
In January, the mayor of Prescott, Wis., across the Mississippi River from Minnesota, asked his town's police chief to remove the motto from squad cars, not because he or other residents were offended but because the city's insurance company and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities said removal of the stickers would be best, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported. Former Pierce County (Wis.) District Attorney John O'Boyle agreed because of concerns surrounding the separation of church and state.
Almost 250 law-enforcement offices have "In God We Trust" displayed on their vehicles, according to the Original Motto Project, which wants to replace "In God We Trust" with E Pluribus Unum. That phrase translates as "Out of many, one," and was on the seal of the United States when Congress adopted it in 1782.
Robert Ray of the Humanists of North Puget Sound in Mount Vernon, Wash., registered the Original Motto Project's domain name in March 2015.
"In God We Trust" first appeared on a 2-cent coin in 1864, according to the U.S. Mint. A 1955 law still in effect made the phrase mandatory on all U.S. money, both bills and coins, and another law in 1956 made it the national motto.
The Supreme Court has not heard a specific case on the motto.
Last year the atheist Freedom from Religion Foundation challenged the Childress Police Department in Texas when it began displaying the motto in August, a month after Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth was killed in an ambush at a suburban Houston gas station. Police Chief Adrian Garcia responded to co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor with a one-sentence letter telling her to "go fly a kite."
Statements about God have "no place on government-owned cars," said foundation officials, who have sent dozens of letters to law-enforcement agencies in 15 mostly Southern states since July.
After Forney City Council gave the OK on Tuesday night, Stinson said he is excited to get to work.
"This is a very religious town," he said. "Every block, there is a church. It's one of the reasons why we moved here. We love the atmosphere.”
Contributing: Eric Kane, WVEC-TV, Hampton-Norfolk, Va. Follow Sebastian Robertson on Twitter: @wfaasebastian
