Court: God OK In Ohio Motto

Ohio's motto, "With God, all things are possible," is constitutional and is not an endorsement of Christianity even though it quotes the words of Jesus, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

Voting 9-4, the full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court's 1998 ruling that Ohio's motto is constitutionally acceptable if the state did not attribute the words to their New Testament source.

"We agree — and we would add that, just as the motto does not have as its primary purpose the advancement of religion, it does not have the primary effect of advancing religion, either," appellate Judge David A. Nelson wrote in the majority opinion.

The case went to the full appeals court after three 6th Circuit judges ruled last April that the motto violated the U.S. Constitution as a government endorsement of religion. The full court's decision reverses the three-judge panel's decision.

Ohio adopted the motto in 1959 and uses it on official stationery, tax forms and some reports, as well as on a bronze plate in the sidewalk at an entrance to the Statehouse.

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the motto, arguing it amounted to state endorsement of Christianity because it was a quotation from Jesus taken from the book of Matthew.

The ACLU can now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

"To me, it means the same thing as ... 'In God We Trust,' " associate solicitor David Gormley told the appellate judges at a December hearing.

But Mark Cohn, an ACLU attorney, said the reference in "With God all things are possible" (found on dollar bills) is much more specific and, therefore, unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge James Graham of Columbus ruled in 1998 that the words were acceptable as an official motto if Ohio did not attribute them to their biblical source. In a secular setting, the judge said, the words are compatible with Judaic or Muslim beliefs.

Nelson noted that states exempt church property from taxation and that is not considered government advancement of religion.

In a dissent, appeals Judge Gilbert Merritt wrote that since adopting the motto Ohio has made it publicly known that the phrase recites the message of Jesus from the writings of Matthew.

"Judge Nelson's opinion for the court approves Ohio's adoption of Christ's words," Merritt wrote.

The ACLU represented the Rev. Matthew Peterson, a Presbyterian minister in suburban Cleveland who objected to Ohio's motto.

Peterson believes that separation of church and state is good for organized religions as well as for the government, ACLU officials said.

Former Gov. George Voinovich said he got the idea to place the motto at the Statehouse during a trade mission to India, where he spotted a public building that bore the phrase, "Government Work is God's Work." Voinovich, a Republican, is now a U.S. senator from Ohio. He was governor from 1991-1999.

"This is great news," Voinvich said Friday. "It really makes you believe that things are right with the world."

By John Nolan