Giving Compass' Take:

• Taylor Swaak reports that six states have passed legislation allowing or requiring schools to display "In God We Trust" - reigniting the church-state debate in public schools. 

• What are the goals of the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation? Should states allow or require religious influence in schools?

• Learn about the influence of wealthy parents in schools.

Six primarily southern states — Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, and Arizona — have approved legislation since 2017 explicitly requiring or allowing public schools to display the words “In God We Trust,” which has been the national motto since 1956 and is inscribed on American currency.

“In a time of rampant drug use [and] increasing school violence … we need God in our schools now more than ever,” Reed said in a press release. (Reed is an evangelical Christian minister and calls himself a “Warrior 4 Christ” in his Twitter bio.)

Rob Boston, a spokesman with Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation has largely spurred the slew of recent legislation. The caucus’s Project Blitz initiative aims to “protect the free exercise of traditional Judeo-Christian religious values and beliefs” and has disseminated guidance — namely a 116-page manual with bill templates — for legislators’ use. Exhibiting “In God We Trust” in schools is the manual’s first bill recommendation.

Before 2017, at least three states — Virginia, Mississippi, and Colorado — had either passed legislation or enacted resolutions to place “In God We Trust” in public schools, though a 2015 Mississippi state audit revealed that only 22 of the 46 reviewed districts had the motto “properly posted.” Laws in Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, and Louisiana require the motto, while laws in Arizona and Alabama make the displays optional.

The resulting debate has pitted critics, who say religious proselytization has no place in public schools, against those who believe embracing a national and historic motto that references generic “ceremonial deism” shouldn’t ruffle any feathers.

Read the full article about the Church-State debate by Taylor Swaak at The 74.