A sheriff has spoken out about refusing to abandon the ‘In God We Trust’ motto on patrol cars after atheists said that the police should rely on the law and not on God.
As Sheriff Wayne Ivey confirmed after he was confronted by groups demanding to get rid of the religious motto from all patrol cars, he has no intention of removing ‘In God We Trust’ from police vehicles.
The heated argument began after Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in Florida announced the station would be giving all of their patrol cars a fresh look. Two of the new suggestions included the American flag at the side and the motto ‘In God We Trust’ at the back of the vehicles.
Following the announcement, atheists have lashed out at the police and called their redesigning plans “inappropriate and exclusionary.”
“Spending taxpayer time placing religious messages on patrol cars is beyond the scope of secular government,” Annie Laurie Gaylor of The Freedom From Religion Foundation told Ivey in a confrontational letter.
“Further, in a time when citizens nationwide are increasingly distrustful of law enforcement officers’ actions, it is frightening and politically dubious for the local police department to announce to citizens that officers rely on the judgment of a deity rather than on the judgment of the law.”
Despite the backlash, however, the Sheriff remains determined to proceed with his plan and have the patrol cars redesigned the way it was proposed. He also assured the public that the majority agrees with the changes and that no taxpayers’ money will be spent on the project because Boniface Heirs Automotive Group decided to fund the redesigning.
“They have a better chance of me waking up thin tomorrow morning than they do of me taking that motto off our cars!” the Sheriff said in an interview with Fox News.
“I personally believe that our country is at a tipping point, and if we, as strong patriotic Americans, don’t stand for the principals of our great nation, we are going to lose the America we all know and love!”
Standing by Wayne’s words was also County Commissioner John Tobia who said:
“If the sheriff, as our chief law enforcement officer, has done the research on this issue and finds that putting ‘In God We Trust’ on patrol cars is a need which will measurably lower crime rates in Brevard County, I accept that determination.”
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Replaced!