Rick Green [00:00:07] You found your way to the intersection of faith and culture. Thanks for joining us today on the Wallbuilders program. You can check out our website wallbuilders.show. Wallbuilders.show, you can catch up on all the programs you might have missed over the last few weeks. And then of course wahlburgers.com, our main website. Great place to get some good materials and make that one time or monthly contribution. So check that out today at wallbuilders.com. I'm Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. Hey guys we've talked about the Ten Commandments a lot over the last few weeks. That's not going to stop. We're going to keep talking about it because there is some momentum building across the country to bring back this, just these foundational truths that used to permeate the country. We pushed it all out. You know, there was this movement to move, got out of the public square. Get rid of the Ten Commandments, all those things. And now we're finally starting to turn that around. Legislation across the country. A lot of these legislators have come to our conference every year. They're now going back to their states and filing bills to get the Ten Commandments back in schools and courthouses and all these days. So it's a really exciting time around this really important topic. 

Speaker 2 [00:01:08] Well, it is important and it is really key because you go back to George Washington. He said, our political prosperity is built on religion and morality. And if you try to separate religious morality, you're not a patriot. Well, there is nothing more in the essence of the religious law and the moral law than the Ten Commandments. It's simple. It's ten simple commandments with our legislators a couple of years ago. The great pastor we have, Mon, Rob McCoy, was talking to legislators and he showed them our. You got ten fingers. There's a commandment for each finger. And here's the easy way to memorize the Ten Commandments. And it is so good for every single adult, whether they're atheist or pagan, or whether they're devout Christian or Jewish or anything else. They have the fundamental moral law memorized. And Tim and I, they happen to be down in Austin, Texas, because today they're having a hearing on passing a bill in Texas that would pass the Ten Commandments in every classroom. And, you know, that is that makes such good citizens. Such a good culture. We know that from past history. We know that from. From just so much evidence. And so it really is kind of fun today to be able to talk about the Ten Commandments. On the day when we're both testifying on that down in Austin

Tim Barton [00:02:14] And this is the two that we are working with First Liberty, they're the ones that have had so many Supreme Court victories over the last several years. And it was through some of these victories that you had things like Lemon that was overturned, that have made it even possible for the Ten Commandments to be restored in these public arenas, like public schools, because now there's a standard of, of like the history and tradition. What if there's a long standing history and tradition, there should be a presumption of constitutionality. And so part of our job today is to be able to show these these senators and this it's SB 10, and this committee is the bill we're testifying on, but we're showing them the long standing history and tradition of the Ten Commandments being used in public schools. But ultimately, it's the basis of all law in the Western Hemisphere. It's it's the basis of American law. So it's the basis of law. It was fundamental in education. And so we have this incredible long standing history and tradition. But as we mentioned, we've been working with First Liberty on a lot of these initiatives in a lot of these states. And, Rick, I think it was last week, Andrea, one of the people we work with at First Liberty in doing these things. You had her on your program as I was at a fireside chat, maybe the Patriot Academy, and she was talking about this very issue and what people can do in their own states to help promote and restore some of these basic religious expressions, ideas, activities that have been removed over the past many decades. And we said, you know what? We we had to let her explain this so that as as people are are getting more of an idea what's happening, they can know the people to partner with, like first liberty, with restoring faith in America, and maybe even some of what's going on in Texas today. 

Rick Green [00:03:51] You know what's crazy, Tim, is that we had her on, and then I went to Georgia and got to meet some of the people that are some of our Constitution coaches that are actually taking up what she and First Liberty are talking about and going into their counties to get the Ten Commandments back up. And and then we, you know, now you guys are headed down to Austin to testify, but it's just like it's everywhere. And I just love all of this momentum building to restore the tank amendment. So we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back to my interview with Andrea Justice from First Liberty. 

Rick Green [00:05:23] Great to have Andrea Justice with us from First Liberty, an amazing organization, of course, based in Texas where all great things. Okay. You know, there's good organizations out. Anyway, Andrew, thanks for coming on. Thanks for all the good work. You all are doing it first, Liberty, thank. 

Andrea Justice [00:05:36] You for having me. I'm excited to be here and tell you about what we got going on. 

Rick Green [00:05:40] Well, I was I don't know if your ears were burning or not. I was in a meeting earlier today, and everybody was so excited about what y'all are doing, because I know you get this too. I know you've said this to me over the years. Everybody's always like, but what can I do? You know, you guys this, you do this, we learn this, we put all this stuff in our heads, we get fired up and passionate. But what can I do? And first, Liberty has some actual, measurable, tangible metrics. And the first one is in Georgia getting the Ten Commandments back into our courthouses, you know, now, of course, legislation all over the country to get it back into our schools else. But I'm just telling you, we were talking about you today because the idea of being able to give these tangible action items to people, our team is pumped, man. So Patriot Academy is thrilled to be partnering with you. 

Andrea Justice [00:06:27] And we are super excited to be partnering with y'all as well. I think when I when I joined First Liberty just six months ago now, the restoring Faith in America initiative, you know, Kelly Shackelford, our CEO, and you guys talked about this, you and Tim and David on on your Wallbuilders show. I listened to that. And you guys were talking about the overturning of lemon and how that's just really blown the doors open for us to have more freedom as it relates to religious expression. And so that was obviously the catalyst for Kelly wanting to start restoring faith in America. And I'm honored that he chose me to be a part of it. And, you know, we just started really praying about now, how can we what are some really practical things that we can have people start doing today? And you and I and Kara and Dan sat down out there at your Patriot Academy campus and kind of started brainstorming, right, how we could get your Constitution coaches involved on the ground because it's a big it's a big lift to kind of change the mindset that has been so prevalent over the last 50 years about what people think they can and cannot do. So in addition to just going out there and being on the ground doing things, we got to reeducate people, and it just made so much sense to work with Patriot Academy to do that. 

Rick Green [00:07:40] I don't know if it's the right analogy or not. I know it's worked to say for me to say, you know, people don't realize the jail cell has been unlocked. It has. Yeah, they have to go push on it and open it. I don't realize they're free to exercise liberty in public and in the, you know, public square and everything else. But I think the other part of that analogy to to what we're going to be doing with, y'all is that it is a little bit like getting out of prison after years and years and years and years and years and adjusting to regular life, or coming home from the military and adjusting back to community, like we've got to adjust back to the fact, the mindset that we are free to express our faith. We don't have to look over our shoulder, or is it okay to do that? Or, you know, all, all of this little we will walk in this line and walking on eggshells for decades now we need to embrace the freedom and go out there and get these things happening. So I'm just pumped, man. I think it is going to take though you you you said it right. I mean, it's is literally like a retraining. Yeah. And getting people to think in the right way. So it's going to be cool. 

Andrea Justice [00:08:38] And there's organizations out there that are still trying to bully people into silence and lying to people about what their rights are and trying to keep people shut up and sit down kind of attitude. And, you know, we've got a I know you talk about this all the time, but it's time to step out in faith and be bold as lions and just get out there and do the things that God calls us to do, but also. That's right. That these new laws have really given us more liberty to do, and we should feel a lot more empowered and emboldened to do it. And I think, you know, even with the election that just happened, we've got some wind behind our wings, too, right behind our sails. 

Rick Green [00:09:16] It's nice to have the wind behind us, but also to have the right firepower. And knowing that you've got the backing to to march out there and do, for instance, this effort in a local county with ten commandments, like we're going to talk about to do that and feel like, oh, I got to do this on my own. And but I'm willing to do it because I'm bold. That's one thing. And thrilled if anybody you know does that. But to know you got an organization like First Liberty behind you with some of the best attorneys on the planet, these great victories of the Supreme Court over the last few years, it's like having the muscle behind you to right in the right firepower to know they've got your back. If you to engage in the fight in that way. So that's that's a big part of why I think this is going to work so well. 

Andrea Justice [00:09:56] Yeah, I mean, first Liberty nine and oh, at the Supreme Court, that is just unheard of. And so it's just I again, feel so honored to work with just so an amazing team of such talented attorneys that have worked so hard to get us where we are. From a legal perspective, so that people like you and I and your Constitution coaches can go out and live out the religious liberties that they've so bravely fought for us and helped bring back. 

Rick Green [00:10:24] Amen, Amen. And we've talked about the, you know, the big changes with lemon being overturned and what the Coach Kennedy case means. Let's talk specifically Georgia and this Ten Commandments effort that you're because it is the fantastic low hanging fruit. Yep. There was already organization there trying to get some of this done. They got a few counties already checked off. I forget how many counties there are in Georgia, but the goal is to get this done in every county in Georgia. So kind of walk us through that. And and first of all, what's available to us, what the goal is to get done. And then we'll get into the nuts and bolts of what people that are watching now can do if they're in Georgia, and people in all of our other states could be thinking about, okay, I know, I know Rick and Andrew are coming to our state soon, too. 

Andrea Justice [00:11:06] Absolutely. 

Rick Green [00:11:07] But let's talk. Georgia, what's the plan there? 

Andrea Justice [00:11:09] Yeah, let's talk Georgia. So when I originally started doing some research on kind of what the current laws are, you know, a couple years ago in Texas, we passed in in God We Trust Law. And I thought, you know what? I'm going to see what other states have. So leverage some great interns here. At First Liberty, we began to just do some research on what are the what is the state of the Union in some of these other states? What kind of laws do they have on the books? What could maybe we go get on the ground doing? And through that research, I found out that Georgia has a great law was passed in about 2006. And it allows what they call the foundations of American law and government displays to be put up all across the public buildings in the state of Georgia. So that displays a series of nine different documents. One of them is the Ten Commandments, framed display as the national motto so and God We Trust and then several other different documents like the Magna Carta, the preamble to the Georgia Constitution. So there's a there's a website called Ten Commandments Georgia. And they were an organization that spun up right after the law was passed through the leadership of Jody Hice, who I know that, you know, there in Georgia. And so he helped to kind of start that organization, and they began to say, hey, let's let's go make this happen. And so they began that work. There's 159 counties in Georgia for a small state. That's a lot of counties. And the Ten Commandments Georgia organization through through the years has been able to get 59 of the counties covered. They've gone in and put them up in just mainland county courthouses. So there's still 100 more counties that don't have these documents put up. And since 2006, the law has actually been modified a little bit that it also now allows for them to be in public schools. So there's lots of white space there. There's a little over 2000 public school campuses in the state of Georgia. So we've compiled all that information and created an action plan and trained up the Constitution coaches. In in the state of Georgia. And they've started signing up for counties that they want to cover. And we're going to first finish out the courthouses. And then phase two, we're going to go into getting them into the schools. 

Rick Green [00:13:26] I love it. Okay. So are we going to be able to. Are we going to do like a I don't know, a lane a landing page somewhere with each of the counties and check them off as we go. Or maybe we do a what do you know. You know, when you do a fundraising campaign, you have the is it a thermometer? It's not the I don't know, whatever it is where you just keep going, you know, until you get up. That would be so cool to just watch that progress as we go. 

Andrea Justice [00:13:45] Yeah, funny you mentioned that. I was just talking to our great marketing team that manages the restoring Faith in America website, and we are going to build a page on our website with a map of the state of Georgia, and it'll show the counties that have been completed, the counties that have been assigned and are in progress, and the ones that are up for grabs if anyone else wants to join us. 

Rick Green [00:14:04] Nice, nice. And then, you know, we talked about this off air, but this is such a good model for us to then turn around and do in other states. And I think I know you guys are following it, I think I think it's 12 or 15 or 20 states that have some sort of ten commandments legislation going either for the schools or the, the courthouses or whatever. Louisiana passed one last year. I our home state of Texas, where we live, has one in the works right now. We had Phil King on our yes program last week to talk about it. So it seems like this could be a prairie fire kind of situation here where we get we really get it going. Well, in Georgia, these other places, they're starting the fires, and then we can go pour some gasoline on that with our folks once they get those, the legislation passed. Is that kind of what you're seeing, that this could be something that spreads across the country? 

Andrea Justice [00:14:50] That's what we're hoping and that's what we're praying, and that's what we're hoping. Patriot Academy will continue to partner with us, because you've got so many people on the ground already, and there's some other organizations that have gone interested in participating as well. But absolutely, we want to take this. This model, this framework, and we want it to be repeatable in other states. Not only is there 15 states that are, you know, trying to get similar legislation passed, whether it's just standalone ten commitments or similar, you know, groupings of documents like Georgia has. You know, there's there's already other states that have similar laws in place that we can already be acting on. So, you know, there's absolutely a plenty of work to be done. And I think if we can be really successful in this, in this framework and create a great playbook that is easily repeatable, we can then take that into as many states as we've got people that are willing to to go be boots on the ground. 

Rick Green [00:15:47] And I know it's not our topic for today. And we'll get you back to talk about some of this later as we get more of the meat on the bones of all these plans. But, you know, even like the in God we trust that that you mentioned. And I know you've connected with Carolyn and and God, we trust America. Yeah. I think they're like a thousand different city council school boards, whatever. And and it really irks me. I tell Carolyn this all the time. It really irks me that California has more than Texas. That's just not right. It's just got yeah, that has got to be remedied. And so even for Georgia and all these other states, the opportunity to get the it's it's real. All of this comes back to a return of a God consciousness. Right? So the whole reason to have in God we trust on a county commissioners dais or, you know, the Ten Commandments in the courthouse on the wall is for us to remember that, you know, those government officials are not our gods and that there is a God that we trust in, and that our freedom in America, according to our declaration, comes from God to us. We create government to protect those rights that God gives us. So all of that to say, some of these other things, they're actually not that hard to do. I mean, it might take a little bit of time, but if you have the steps in front of you and we're coming alongside you, anybody watching right now could say, hey, I'll do my school board or I'll do my right, you know, local courthouse or whatever. I guess that's what I want to get across, is this isn't going to be the only option. You don't have to live in Georgia. Everybody watching. At some point, we're going to have an action item for you, and it's going to be tangible. And frankly, you're going to be able to tell your kids and grandkids ten years from now, hey, look at that. I was part of making that happen. That's a great legacy to leave that you helped restore God conscious. I'm sorry for filibustering. I gave you a lot to respond to there without a really good question, but there's a lot more that we can do, including in God We Trust. 

Andrea Justice [00:17:30] Well, yeah. And I think that kind of goes back to really part of the reasons that part of the reasons that Kelly wanted the restoring Faith in America initiative or group to exist is, you know, we want to be a resource so that if you're curious about what you might could do in your community to restore faith in America, we want you to reach out to us. And we've done a lot of the legwork and the research and found the right partners to work with, maybe that are local to you or can provide you the really good how to guidance. And so we just want to kind of coach along the way and answer questions that you might have and make sure that you have all you need to be successful. And then of course, if you get into sort of any sort of legal issue, we want to be there as well. But there are so many things that can be done that you should. You don't even have to be scared of a legal issue. I mean, the In God We Trust is a perfect example. I mean, it's on our money, it's everywhere, and it's our national motto. There's very little that anyone can say to you in any part of the country that could, should dissuade you for from, you know, petitioning your local school board or your city council to put up an In God We Trust sign behind the diocese or on the diocese or in the room or wherever, you know. So and we've got all kinds of information about that. 

Rick Green [00:18:47] Yeah. And Andrea this is literally, you know, of course, you know, I come from Wallbuilders and being mentored by David Barton for two and a half decades. And you know, we've always talked about rebuilding the walls. And I thought we were, but we weren't. We were really just getting the king to agree. We the people, the King, that we could go rebuild the walls. These are the bricks, though. What you're talking about. These are the bricks to rebuilding a society and rebuilding liberty in a society that will last for our kids and our and our grandkids. And everybody out there gets to have, you know, sword in one hand, trowel in the other, and do this really important work. And and even if it's just one brick that they lay, whether yes and God we trust or maybe it's just calling a meeting and having friends over in your living room saying, hey, I watch this thing and I found out we can actually make this happen. Let's put a little committee together and figure out how to do it. Let's go to their website and learn. Yeah, everybody can pick up some of these tools and be a part of this. And that's, that's, I think, exciting for people that have been sitting around going, man, I've been watching my country fall apart. And I wanted to do something I didn't know what to do. Yeah. Help is on the way. We're going to help you. 

Andrea Justice [00:19:46] And it's super exciting. What's going on in the different in all the legislatures across? Well, most of the legislators across the country, all the states, in addition to these Ten Commandments bills, there's some more in God We Trust display legislation. There's legislation around prayer in school. There's legislation moving through around Bible curriculums. And yeah, you know, the story of Genesis to, you know, be a counter narrative to evolution, just a lot of different things around religious expression for students and teachers. And so, you know, I, I feel like even more so there's you're the doors are going to be swung open even wider, even though the legislation is not necessarily necessary in some of these cases because of what happened at the Supreme Court, it just adds an extra layer of oomph to people feeling like they can feel comfortable and confident and not be afraid to go do those things. So the legislation is great and it can withstand, you know, judicial scrutiny all the way up to the Supreme Court because of those important cases like Bladensburg and and Kennedy and the Graf case and all of these things that have impacted our, our religious expression in, in the public sphere. 

Rick Green [00:20:58] Yeah. I think to what part of what you're saying that I'm hearing is it almost short circuited? Like if you do get the legislation, you could short circuit a lot of the questions about is it okay to do this and gives people that extra, extra motivation. So let's also give people that challenge, you know, if you if you know, this is happening in your state, I'm trying to think of a fast way to be able to tell people where to go to follow that legislation, because I don't think we have I don't think either of our groups have a monitor on that. But even if you just go to your your state's legislative site and type in religious liberty or tinker, maybe you can help track one down. But if that's happening, go testify or right, at least send in a call or a letter to your state rep or your state senator. Because the more of these that we can get passed, if there's 15 that are running with the Ten Commandments bill, they through and we could pass half of those or even five of those this year in the momentum that would create for next year. Absolutely huge great way to get involved is testifying in those committees. 

Andrea Justice [00:21:50] Yeah. And I you know, I, I've been given access to a great piece of software that I can track these and all the different states. So I mean, I'm like I said, I'm here is a resource I want people to feel free to reach out to RFIA@firstliberty.org. That goes directly to me and I can I can just send you the link to all the bills, and I can kind of give you an update on where things stand. And I'm more than happy to help folks if they're if they want to get engaged in that way. 

Rick Green [00:22:15] RFIA@firstliberty.org. You got it. Dot org. Did I get that org. Yeah. Org rfia@first liberty.org. We'll have that on the screen. Make sure you know guys just if nothing else just get on the list so that Andrea knows you're interested because it may be the it may be that our focus on your area or your state doesn't happen for another six months or two months or whatever or whatever. But if you go and email or and say, hey, here am I, send me, I'm ready. When y'all are ready, send me whatever. That's going to really help us, you know, march on those on those areas when it's time. If we already have the the boots on, even if you're already a coach or you're already in our database or whatever, it's still important to let Andrew know that you're ready. And this is an area that you want to that you want to be a part of. What else? What else should we tell folks right now? Getting ready for this? 

Andrea Justice [00:23:05] Yeah. Just to that point, if you go to RFIA.org There's a there's a form on there you can sign up to be what we call a faith blazer, and that's someone that's willing to go and do and and act on these things as well as other things. So if you will sign up there, you become part of the database that I can send updates to via email, just letting you know about things like this. So that's real easy way for me to know who you are. And yeah, and just keep you updated on how things are going in each state, as well as with other initiatives that we might be having. 

Rick Green [00:23:37] Love it. Well, I don't know about you, Andrew. I'm not tired of winning yet. So, you know, Trump keeps saying we're going to be tired. I'm not tired of winning. Let's go win a lot more. And in this one, we're winning for our kids and grandkids because this will have an impact a long time. Really appreciate what you're doing until Kelly and the whole team. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the battles that they fought in the past and for continuing to battle and for investing in this initiative and this effort, I am really looking forward to making this happen. I know our coaches are as well. Appreciate you. God bless you. 

Andrea Justice [00:24:04] God bless you too and thank you for partnering with us. We're so excited to be doing this with you guys. 

Rick Green [00:24:09] That was Andrew Justice from First Liberty. And Tim, as you were saying earlier in the program, really cool partnerships happening right now. A lot of these groups are coming together to help get this restoration of a God consciousness and get these truths back into the public square. And really thankful for what First Liberty is doing here. 

Tim Barton [00:24:25] Absolutely. And as we mentioned and she identified there's a standard now it's a long standing history and tradition. So where we partner with them is we can show the history behind this, the things, you know, dad, that you you've been doing for decades now, trying to reeducate and inform Americans of the, the faith Foundation of America. And so whether it's things like in God We Trust, which she mentioned, or things like the Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments are all over Washington, D.C. it's mind boggling that today people are arguing whether children can see this because it's in the Supreme Court building multiple dozens of displays of the Ten Commandments in the Supreme Court building. There's depictions of Moses in the Library of Congress, in fact, and the US Capitol building in the House chamber. There's an image of Moses looking down on the speaker's rostrum. Moses and the Ten Commandments have been a part of all kinds of governmental things and activities, because we understood this is the basis of our law. It's the basis of our moral code in America. And so the idea now that we can restore some of these basic things. And one of the things we talked about today, even in testifying on this, this Senate bill in Texas, there's a level of irony when kids can be arrested and go to jail for breaking the Ten Commandments. And yet, for some reason, we've been telling kids they're not allowed to see the Ten Commandments. There's a level of hypocrisy and irony, but hopefully we can get that resolved. 

David Barton [00:25:45] And it's strange, too, that the opponents are out there saying, oh, you can't see this. Too much God in schools. Matt pointed out the Ten Commandments mention God twice and the Ten Commandments. The Declaration of Independence mentions God four times. Declaration is twice as much as the ten. Are we going to say it's unconstitutional for kids to see the declaration? Come on, give me a break. But yet, this is what the opponents all over the country are saying is you can't have God and problem can have God. So it really is good to see the Ten Commandments being looked at. This is the basis of a civilized society, and we definitely want a civilized society. And this is what is produced one for several thousand years, including in the early years of America. 

Rick Green [00:26:22] It's so exciting to see guys just winning, winning, winning. Let's make this happen, folks. You can be a part of it as well. Get signed up today and find out what's happening in your state, what's happening in your county and your local community. And if nothing is happening yet, maybe you're the one that needs to be the one to raise the banner and rally folks to make it happen right there where you live. Thanks so much for listening. You've been listening to the Wallbuilders show.