Roy Blunt: “There is a blank spot. So where there was faith, there is now a blank spot. Where the community used to say we are a…”

“There is a blank spot. So where there was faith, there is now a blank spot. Where the community used to say we are a community based on faith, there is now a blank spot. We have got a community in my district in southwest Missouri, the city of Republic that is going through exactly that same thing right now. There is a copy of their city seal. Of course Republic is located just about where that star is. What does the seal say about that community? It says with this helping hand that this is a community that reaches out and helps people. It says with this family that this is a community based on family. Maybe we could even say family values, though that might get that struck off the seal as well, but certainly based on the concept of family. Of course this symbol, that is a symbol for faith, and, of course, in this case, a specific faith, but that is clearly the predominant faith in that community. Nobody came to the city council in Republic and said there are other faith groups in this community; could we put some more, could we create a collage of symbols here? That is not the challenge. The challenge is to eliminate this from the seal. The challenge is to do exactly what Edmond, Oklahoma did and wind up with a big white blotch where faith used to be. Of course the ACLU is coming into this small southwest Missouri community. They are saying we are going to go to court. It is going to cost you about $100,000 to fight us. Do you want to fight, or do you want to give in?”