Texas Police Chief Tells Atheist Group to 'Go Fly a Kite' Over 'In God We Trust' Complaint

A Texas police chief has defended the "In God We Trust" stickers on his unit's patrol cars, telling an atheist organization that complained about the motto to "go fly a kite."

Adrian Garcia, who is the chief of the Childress Police Department, recently wrote a letter responding to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which complained that his police unit had violated the separation of church and state by posting "In God We Trust" stickers on its squad cars.

"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," Garcia wrote in a recent response letter, a portion of which was posted to Facebook.

Garcia and his department have been receiving criticism since they decided to add the stickers to squad cars earlier this year.

The police chief told the Red River Sun newspaper in early September that he wanted to add the stickers to squad cars to maintain a level of peace between civilians and police following recent violence against police officers in the nation.

"I think with all the assaults happening on officers across the country and the two that happened in the past few days in Harris County and Abilene, it's time we get back to where we once were," Garcia told the newspaper. "This is our nation's motto [...] it's even on our currency. It's nothing new."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent letters out to Childress and other police departments throughout the nation who have used the "In God We Trust" sticker.

In the letters, the national atheist group argues that there is nothing secular about the motto, and the stickers should be removed immediately to respect all civilians' beliefs on religion.