Area oficials are throwing their support behind a statewide fight to keep God in Ohio’s motto.

“I think the motto should stay as it is,” State Rep. Dean DePiero, D-20, said. “It shouldn’t have to be changed.”

The 41-year-old motto -  “With God All Things are Possible” - was found in late April to be unconstitutional by a federal appeals court, which directed the U.S. District Court to order Ohio to remove the words from state buildings and stationery.

The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit tiled in 1997 by the American Civil Liberties Union claiming the phrase violated the separation of church and state and promoted Christian beliefs and ideals.

But Gov. Bob Taft and Attorney General Betty Montgomery have vowed to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Area state and city officials are backing that decision.

“I do not believe that Ohio’s state motto promotes one religion over, another or that it represents an endorsement of religion by the state,” said State Sen. Bob Spada, R-24, of Parma Heights. “It is a secular declaration of the spirit and optimism of the citizens of Ohio.” DePiero agreed.

“I think the ACLU should find more worthy causes,” he said. “We should be spending our time on school funding, not this.”

Parma City Council wasted no time stat-ing its opinion on the matter. On May 1- six days after the court decision - council passed a resolution supporting state officials’ efforts to appeal the ruling.

“This is not a separation of church and state matter,” said Ward 7 Councilman John Stover, who sponsored the measure.

“People who use that argument don’t realize you will not find that language in the first amendment."

The resolution says “the state does not use the motto to promote or advance any single set of religious beliefs” and supports fighting the legal ruling.

Stover said he believes “countless other Ohioans feel the same way.”

Olmsted Falls Council President Beverly Smith is one ofthem.

“If it was up to me, I’d leave it alone,” Smith said, “What’s wrong with it?”

No other southwestern suburban communities have yet taken formal action on the issue, but Middleburg Heights Councilman Raymond G. Guttmann said he thinks he knows why.

“Quite honestly, I don’t think most people even realized what the motto was until now,” Guttmann said.

That’s changed, though - there are lots of opinions flying.

“Everyone I’ve heard from is supportive of the motto we have,” DePiero said. In Patma Heights, council members will discuss the issue during a caucus meeting on Monday.

“The controversy over the motto is ludicrous,” Council President Martin K. Zanotti said. “I don’t believe there is any conflict.”

The ACLU launched its battle against the motto in 1997, but a federal judge in Columbus ruled against the claim in 1998. U.S. Dis-trict Court Judge James L. Graham found the words were acceptable as a motto if the state did not attribute them to their biblical source.

The phrase is a quote from Jesus from the book of Matthew in the New Testament.

The ACLU appealed, leading to the 2 - 1 decision April 25 by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Appeals Judge David Nelson, who dissented, wrote that he found Ohio’s motto no more troubling than the words “In God We Trust” on U.S. coins. Courts have upheld that phrase because it is considered a neutral statement of deism.

But Judge Avem Cohn wrote in the decision that Graham erred in concluding that the words? in a secular setting, are compatible with all religions. “When Jesus spoke to his disciples, he was explaining to them what was needed of them to enter heaven and achieve salvation, a uniquely Christian thought not shared by Jews and Moslems,” Cohn wrote.

It cannot be properly understood other than in its biblical context, the ruling says.

The motto was suggested by a 10-year-old Cincinnati boy in 1959, a direct biblical quote in which Jesus answers questions from a follower about the path to eternal salvation.

Christine Link, executive director of the Ohio ACLU said the agency is “delighted” with the ruling “which once again affirms the bedrock principal that the state cannot and should not choose between competing religious doctrines.”

But some officials aren’t willing to let the issue rest.

“It is my hope that the Supreme Court will accept the case and rule in favor of Ohio citizens,” Spada said.

Locally, other cities are expected to back the challenge, although North Royalton may not be among them.

“I leave weighty issues, such as the state motto, to those at the higher levels to ponder,” Council President Edward W. McGrath said.