Arizona Senate Passes Bill Allowing Phrase 'God Enriches' in Public Schools
- Updated Feb 27, 2018
Arizona teachers can now post “God enriches” in their classrooms after the state Senate passed a bill 17-13 allowing them to do so.
The Christian Post reports that the state legislature passed Senate Bill 1289 along party lines. It now goes to the House for approval.
Arizona teachers already have the freedom to read founding documents which make mention of God, as well as to post and read the national motto “In God We Trust,” but Bill 1289, which was sponsored by Republican Sen. Gail Griffin, would add the phrase “Ditat Deus” to that list. This phrase is the Arizona state motto and means “God enriches.”
The bill’s detractors claim that it is part of an “ideological push” to “chip away at secular government,” but the bill’s supporters believe exactly the opposite. Griffin stated that allowing teachers to post the state motto in English would “be a good history lesson for students to learn where this came from.”
The state of Florida also recently passed a bill which would mandate that all public school classrooms display the national motto “In God We Trust.” This bill passed the state’s House of Representatives and now goes on to the Senate for approval.
Unlike the Arizona bill, the Florida bill had bipartisan support.
"[God is] not a Republican and he's not a Democrat," the bill's sponsor, Democrat Rep. Kimberly Daniels, said, according to NPR. "He's not black and he's not white. He is the light. And our schools need light in them like never before."
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Publication date: February 27, 2018
