March 26, 2001

Court OKs Ohio's motto
___CINCINNATI (RNS)--A full Ohio federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of the Ohio state motto, which states that "With God All Things Are Possible," reversing a ruling from a three-judge panel last spring.
___"The motto is merely a broadly worded expression of a religious/philosophical sentiment that happens to be widely shared by the citizens of Ohio," wrote Judge David Nelson in the majority opinion for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
___The 9-4 ruling handed down March 16 overturned a 2-1 ruling last April by a panel of the appeals court which found the motto expresses "a uniquely Christian thought" and its use by the state amounted to government endorsement of Christianity.
___Nelson, who was the lone dissenter on that panel, had said at the time that he found the 41-year-old state motto no more offensive than the phrase "In God We Trust" printed on U.S. coins.
___The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Presbyterian minister Matthew Peterson. The civil rights organization had argued that the phrase is inseparable from its biblical context.
___In 1998, a U.S. district judge had granted Ohio permission to use the motto with the stipulation that the phrase's biblical origins could not be cited.

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