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CBS News
7 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
West Michigan county drops "Where Freedom Rings" motto after pro-Trump majority loses power
One of Michigan's fastest-growing counties is dropping "Where Freedom Rings" as its motto, less than a year after hard-right elected officials lost their majority on the governing board. "Where Freedom Rings" replaced "Where You Belong" in 2023 in Ottawa County, population 306,000, near Lake Michigan in the western part of the state. At the same time, the county board tried to fire the health officer over COVID-19 restrictions and eliminated a diversity office. But the tide has turned somewhat. Republicans still dominate the board, though members of a pro-Trump group known as Ottawa Impact no longer have a majority, even while President Trump got 59% of the county vote in the 2024 election. Board Chair John Teeples said "Where Freedom Rings" was divisive. "For far too many people in Ottawa County and elsewhere, this motto has come to symbolize disunity and rejection, not genuine personal freedom regardless of what its authors may have intended," Teeples said. The board voted 7-4 to drop it Tuesday. Commissioner Joe Moss, the former board chair, proposed "In God We Trust" as a new motto but it failed, reported. A county resident, Deb Cizek of Port Sheldon Township, spoke in favor of getting rid of "Where Freedom Rings." The motto started "two years of continuous attacks on personal rights, parental rights, acceptance of those with different life choices, public schools, public libraries, Planned Parenthood, and most obvious, the Ottawa County Health Department staff and programming," Cizek said.


Associated Press
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Michigan county drops 'Where Freedom Rings' motto after pro-Trump majority loses power
WEST OLIVE, Mich. (AP) — One of Michigan's fastest-growing counties is dropping 'Where Freedom Rings' as its motto, less than a year after hard-right elected officials lost their majority on the governing board. 'Where Freedom Rings' replaced 'Where You Belong' in 2023 in Ottawa County, population 306,000 near Lake Michigan in the western part of the state. At the same time, the county board tried to fire the health officer over COVID-19 restrictions and eliminated a diversity office. But the tide has turned somewhat. Republicans still dominate the board, though members of a pro-Trump group known as Ottawa Impact no longer have a majority, even while President Donald Trump got 59% of the county vote in the 2024 election. Board Chair John Teeples said 'Where Freedom Rings' was divisive. 'For far too many people in Ottawa County and elsewhere, this motto has come to symbolize disunity and rejection, not genuine personal freedom regardless of what its authors may have intended,' Teeples said. The board voted 7-4 to drop it Tuesday. Commissioner Joe Moss, the former board chair, proposed 'In God We Trust' as a new motto but it failed, reported. A county resident, Deb Cizek of Port Sheldon Township, spoke in favor of getting rid of 'Where Freedom Rings.' The motto started 'two years of continuous attacks on personal rights, parental rights, acceptance of those with different life choices, public schools, public libraries, Planned Parenthood, and most obvious, the Ottawa County Health Department staff and programming,' Cizek said.


The Independent
15-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
What Pope Leo XIV's coat of arms and motto tell us about his leadership
Pope Leo XIV has announced his motto and coat of arms – a long-held tradition for those in the ranks of bishops, cardinals and popes. The choice of symbols and words reflects the person's experience. Leo's shield is divided diagonally: The upper half shows a white lily on a blue background, and the lower shows the emblem of the Order of St. Augustine – an order to which he belongs. His motto reads, 'In Illo uno unam,' translated as 'In the One, we are one,' which are words of St. Augustine from his Exposition on Psalm 127, Paragraph 2: 'I understand one in the One Christ. You are therefore many, and you are one; we are many, and we are one. ' In choosing this motto, Leo includes the identifying symbol of Augustine, a heart pierced by an arrow. As an art historian, I explain how Renaissance artists portrayed Augustine's humility, and what the choice of the motto might tell us about the new pope. The Order of St. Augustine Augustine lived in the late fourth century, ultimately serving as bishop of Hippo in northern Africa for 34 years. The Augustinian order was founded in 1244 after several communities of hermits living in the region of Tuscany, Italy, petitioned Pope Innocent IV to form a single order. The pope gave them the Rule of Saint Augustine as a code of living, which stated: 'Call nothing your own, but let everything be yours in common; [do] not seek after what is vain and earthly.' Augustine's status as a scholar, theologian and administrator made him a widely depicted saint. For example, he appears in a stained glass window commissioned by a pastor in 1622, in which he holds his symbol of the heart pierced with the arrow resting on a book on his lap. The image relates to a phrase from Augustine's book 'The Confessions': 'Thou hadst pierced our heart with thy love, and we carried thy words, as it were, thrust through our vitals.' In this stained-glass image, the saint is seen speaking to a child. The 1483 translation of the 'Golden Legend,' a collection of saints' lives, explains that while struggling to write his treatise 'On the Trinity,' Augustine was walking at the seashore and saw a child filling a tiny pit with water. When the child explained that he was bringing the ocean into the pit, Augustine scolded him for being silly. The child answered that he would sooner fit all the water of the sea into the pit than Augustine could bring the mystery of the Trinity into his limited human understanding. The Trinity is the Christian concept that God is not a single person but three – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – united in a single divine and eternal nature. This lesson in humility became widely depicted across the centuries. In 1482, an altarpiece by the painter and sculptor Michael Pacher shows Augustine with a child at his feet holding a spoon. Augustine's scholarship Augustine's legacy includes not only 'The Confessions,' one of the most widely read books of medieval and early modern times, and 'On the Trinity,' but many others, including 'The City of God,' a monumental work of over 1,000 pages. Sandro Botticelli 's 1480 painting of Augustine in his study shows the saint searching for clarity of thought as he pauses his writing. Dressed simply in a long white garment and a cloak, he has set aside his bishop's miter, an official hat – also a gesture of humility. His study is crowded with books; on the right, behind his head, a book is open to a study of geometry. Botticelli tries to show the saint as a scholar in ancient times by placing on the left an old and discredited celestial model that depicts the Earth at the center of the universe, with the Sun, Moon, planets and stars revolving around it. We, with modern knowledge, understand that despite his intelligence, Augustine cannot know everything. Leo has been both a scholar and pastor. He served as a professor of canon law and early Christian theology at San Carlos y San Marcelo, a seminary in Peru. Yet, like the founder of his order, his words at this first Mass reflected his humility when he said that his appointment as pope was 'both a cross and a blessing' and spoke of the responsibility he and the cardinals have in the world.