Cheryl Kolbe
Clark County Board
Vancouver, Wash.
April 5, 2016
Cheryl Kolbe is the president of the Portland Area Chapter of FFRF, which she started in 2013. She first learned about FFRF from its billboard campaign in Portland in 2008 and attended her first convention in 2009 in Seattle. In 2012 she was elected an FFRF state representative.
Please be seated during this secular invocation.
Let us think about trust. Trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something.
What do the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution say about trust? Trust isn’t mentioned in the Declaration of Independence or in the Bill of Rights. Our Constitution references an office of honor, trust, or profit, a reference to executive branch positions, and trust connotes the idea of a public trust that accrues to the office holder.
Some quotes on trust:
Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator: “The trust of the people in the leaders reflects the confidence of the leaders in the people.”
Our president, Barack Obama: “If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists — to protect them and to promote their common welfare — all else is lost.” May we treat each other with respect and courtesy. May we listen, not just to give the person their turn, but to hear and think about the value of their viewpoint. It is easier to trust people who are most like us. Yet, in government, the challenge is to build trust in your very diverse community. May we recognize that we have many varying viewpoints, and may we recognize which of those viewpoints are relevant to county business and which are not.
“In God We Trust” reflects the view of many people. Those of us, like me, who do not trust in a god or any gods, are not part of ‘we’ and have a very different view. I encourage Clark County, as you move forward, to be as inclusive as possible.
When conducting Clark County business, let us all demonstrate to each other that we are trustworthy. With trust in each other, may we build a stronger and better Clark County. Note: In February 2015 Clark County councilors voted to prominently display ‘In God We Trust’ in the main hearing room. That display is now on the wall.