In response to the Missouri Sheriffs Association’s recent decision to place “In God We Trust” decals on every sheriff’s department patrol car, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is offering to send the association “In Reason We Trust” stickers to post alongside the religious message.
In a letter sent today to the association, FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor writes, “Statements about a god have no place on government-owned property.” Hundreds of thousands of Missourians do not believe in a monotheistic god or any gods, says Gaylor, and posting “In God We Trust” on patrol cars “unequivocally signals bias against nonbelievers.”
FFRF, a national state/church watchdog with more than 23,000 members nationwide, sent 27 additional letters last week to sheriffs’ offices, police departments, and city governments in Missouri and elsewhere that have placed the stickers on their cars. The complaint letters follow dozens already sent by FFRF to sheriff and police departments around the country in response to citizen complaints.
The latest entities contacted are:
• Ackley Police Department, Iowa
• Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, Ala.
• Barton County Sheriff’s Office, Mo.
• Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office, Mo.
• Burke County Sheriff’s Office, Ga.
• Callaway County Sheriff’s Office, Mo.
• Childress Police Department, Texas
• Dyer County Sheriff’s Department, Tenn.
• Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Ill.
• Graham County Sheriff’s Office, N.C.
• Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, Ill.
• Henderson County Sheriff’s Department, Tenn.
• Howell County Sheriff’s Office, Mo.
• Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Department, La.
• Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, Mo.
• Jena Police Department, La.
• Kirbyville Police Department, Tex.
• Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Mo.
• Mineral County Sheriff’s Office, W.V.
• Nodaway County Sheriff’s Department, Mo.
• City of Osceola, Ark.
• Ozark County Sheriff’s Department, Mo.
• City of Sulphur, La.
• Texas County Sheriff’s Office, Mo.
• Union Parish Sheriff’s Office, La.
• Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office, La.
• Vidalia Police Department, La.
FFRF thanks attorney Madeline Ziegler, FFRF’s new Cornelius Vanderbroek Legal Fellow, for her diligent work and research on this state/church entanglement.
