Elaboration
A motto is a statement of goals or ideals, or a maxim adopted as a principle
of behavior. Youngsters readily develop a sense of what it means to
"live up to your motto." Thus, there is perhaps no better platform
on which to ground your neutrality efforts regarding religion than
the original motto of the nation: E Pluribus Unum.
E Pluribus Unum is a Latin phrase for "Out of Many—One" or "One Whole from Many
Parts." The meaning pertains to the fusing of a group of individual
political units into a single federal state. The context, in our case, was
the welding together of the original thirteen colonies into thirteen states of a
nation.
The first national motto—E Pluribus Unum—served
the United States for 175 years. The second motto— "In
God We Trust"—has been in use for 45 years. The latter replaced the original in 1956, at
the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union. The story of the nation's two mottos is told in many places.
One source for information is www.religioustolerance.org/nat_mott.htm,
which has rather lengthy material contrasting the original national motto with
its replacement.
Side note: The present slogan, In God We Trust,
is discomfiting for many citizens. Although it has been judged
constitutional as a promoter of national patriotism and is admired by many, it
does not work as a construct for bridging all differences and fully unifying people.
Despite its many admirers, the slogan exacerbates a problematic situation.
Its neglect of all those persons whose
religious and nonreligious worldviews do not include a monotheistic construct seriously marginalizes
these citizens. The original U.S. motto—E Pluribus Unum—has no such drawbacks.
It presents a solid building block for advancing religious pluralism and
offers a
level playing field for everyone.
The original U.S. motto, E Pluribus Unum, was (and remains) a key element of the Great Seal of the United States.
It is the motto of interest here, and its history is worth noting. Three of the
founding fathers—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson—were
assigned by Congress to come up with a design for a "Great Seal" for
the nation. This committee received its task assignment on an auspicious
date—July 4, 1776. They submitted a design in August that contained the motto,
"E Pluribus Unum," but that failed to meet Congress's approval and
only after several designs and several years did the project reach
fruition. The approved design, submitted by the Secretary of Congress in
June, 1782, combined several elements—an eagle with shield, olive branch, and
arrows—with the original E Pluribus Unum motto (on a scroll held in the
eagle's beak).
For your classroom microcosm, the "one from many" phrase has practical meaning beyond that of
"one nation out of many states". In our increasingly
heterogeneous nation, another meaning is appropriate:
"one nation out of its many citizens. This notion depicts the melding of a
diverse U.S. citizenry into a whole nation under a single constitution. Acknowledging that each citizen
will have his/her personal worldview beliefs, you
can focus on the expectation that all citizens can and will work together in
striving to sustain national ideals.
In your classroom, where a group of students is a "nation" of
"citizens," the ideal of neutrality permits no "caste
system" by worldview. It places all the youngsters on a level
playing field.
Any slogan you use to build cohesion within your classroom
needs to be manifestly fair to all. E Pluribus Unum meets that
criterion.
Idea 1 "Classroom as a Microcosm"
Idea 3 "Lingo Lifting"
