Dr. Cade Brumley, Louisiana’s superintendent of education, told Newsmax that a new law mandating “In God We Trust” be displayed in every classroom in the state is an exercise in patriotism and religious freedom.
Brumley made his remarks Friday on “National Report.” Click here to join Todd’s private Facebook group for conservatives.
“Look, the National Opinion Research Center just released a study and it said that in 1998, 70% of Americans believed patriotism was very important,” he said. “Move forward 25 years they just released the same report. It says about 38% of Americans think patriotism is very important, and it’s even more concerning with individuals under 30, where that number is around 23%.
“So put that in perspective. Only about one-third of Americans believe that patriotism is very important. And so, our legislature took action and essentially decided to place ‘In God We Trust’ in classrooms across our state.
“That particular bill passed 98-44 in our House and unanimously in our Senate.”
Brumley was asked about the ACLU denouncing the law, saying that parents, not school officials, should be responsible for shaping their children’s religious education.
Brumley said: “Well first of all, the parent is the first teacher of the child without a doubt. But at the same time what’s great about our country is we’re supposed to have religious freedom without persecution. We’re supposed to have freedom of speech.
“Hopefully it will cause our students to just take time and pause, reflect on the values that bring us all together, the things that we have in common, and for those things for which we should be very thankful,” he said.
“It does not recognize one particular religion over another. It is just recognition that ‘In God We Trust’ is our national motto. Values in this country matter. And it’s an attempt by our legislature, much like in the fifties, when there needed to be patriotism to defeat communism, that American values still matter in an exceptional country.”
