Atheists, 'Go fly a kite,' says Texas police chief

by Kelly Ledbetter, |
"I had to share this with the public. Notice what I will be putting on all Childress Police patrol units." -Chief Adrian Garcia | Childress PD Facebook

CHILDRESS, Texas (Christian Examiner) – Childress Police Chief Adrian Garcia has a way with words: efficient and direct.

So yesterday when he wrote a response to the Freedom from Religion Foundation letter he received about police vehicles bearing the words, "In God We Trust," Garcia needed to use only four words -- "Go fly a kite."

"After carefully reading your letter I must deny your request in the removal of our Nations motto from our patrol units, and ask that you and the Freedom From Religion Foundation 'go fly a kite.'" This was his entire one-sentence response.

The atheist foundation had apparently demanded that the motto be removed from vehicles, claiming that it violated the separation of church and state, according to TheBlaze.

TheBlaze reported last month that Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said, "We can't predict what we'll do next," in reference to the decals.

On the Childress Police Department Facebook page, Garcia has been posting photos of other Texas law enforcement vehicles with the decal.

"How about this, that's good stuff right there. Good job Seagraves PD," Garcia wrote about a photo of the back of a unit. Seagraves recently voted to put the decal on every law enforcement vehicle.

"Love it!" he said about a Hutchinson County sheriff's patrol vehicle sporting the nation's motto.

Barker added, "We would love to sue over a case like this."

Sheriff's offices in Tennessee and Florida have also been sent demand letters from the atheist group. They too have refused to comply with the demand to remove the "In God We Trust" decals, in once case answering simply "NO."