OK Governor Okays Posting of National Motto in Schools
by Rusty Pugh
May 7, 2004
(AgapePress) - An Oklahoma pro-family advocate says she is overjoyed that her state has made it legal to post "In God We Trust" in all public school classrooms.Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed into law this week a measure that allows every classroom, cafeteria, and auditorium to display posters bearing the phrases "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of Many One) and the national motto "In God We Trust." State law did not prohibit schools from posting the mottos, but now that HB 2477 is law, teachers and principals are reassured they can use the mottos without risking lawsuits.
Patty Morton is president of the group Oklahomans for Patriotic Values, which worked for two years to get the bill passed. The mother and pro-family activist says Satan has been in control of the nation's schools for too long -- and it is time to take them back.
"We are so excited [about the bill's passage] -- it's just such a thrill. And there's a lot of reasons for that," Morton says. "The primary one, of course, is that the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified in our schools."
Morton shares that it was a long fight to get the bill through, mainly because of one state senator -- Penny Williams, who Morton says consistently opposed the measure. Still, she says, it was worth all the effort.
"I apologized to God that I had not already gone [forward earlier], but ... just going out by faith and saying 'We will do this' -- and then as you deliver these things, you say, 'God, I just take this school back in the name of Jesus for You and for Your glory,'" she recalls.
Morton tearfully remembers the support she received along the way from her daughter, a school teacher in Texas. "More than once she's been an encouragement to me -- whew, I could cry -- but this is what she said [one time] when I wanted to quit: 'You know, mama, you will not quit. How long as Satan had control over our schools? He does not want to let go. You will not quit -- let's pray.'"
Morton says she also received tremendous support from the Mississippi-based American Family Association and its director of special projects, Randy Sharp, in getting HB 2477 passed.
