Fresno’s City Council members voted on a resolution last week to add the United States’ national motto of “In God We Trust” to the wall behind the dais in the council chamber. The resolution passed in a favorable sweep with no votes against it, but there was one councilmember that was absent for the vote. The person behind the resolution is District 6 Councilman Garry Bredefeld, who said he was inspired by a national movement that was started by Bakersfield City Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan in 2002. Bredefeld worked hard to gain support for his proposal and sent letters to pastors of local church congregations and he utilized social media. Bredefeld stated,

[This proposal] is not about choosing one religion over another; I would never support that… Because there is a vocal minority that wants to take God out of our beliefs, we shouldn’t be silent about that… For too long, a silent majority has allowed a vocal minority to silence them.

Fresno now joins about 650 cities and counties nationwide that have added in the motto. The cities in Fresno County that already have the motto are Fowler, Huron, Kerman, Orange Cove, Reedley, Sanger and Selma. The resolution had included a condition that no tax payer money would be used and that private donations would be used to add in the motto behind the council dais. We will have to wait and see if any lawsuits arise from this resolution because opponents of this move claim that its goes against the separation of church and state.

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