DALLAS - A police department in a rural Texas Bible Belt community has placed large "In God We Trust" decals on its patrol vehicles in response to recent violence against law enforcement officers. But a national watchdog group is contesting the decals as an unlawful endorsement of religion.

The decision this month to unveil the phrase in Childress follows a similar move by dozens of other police agencies elsewhere in the country. Leaders cite patriotism or other reasons for adding the phrase to vehicles.

But the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation says the First Amendment prohibits government from establishing a religion.

Jeremy Dys with the Liberty Institute in Texas counters that federal courts have allowed the phrase and other religious overtures as "part of the country's history and heritage."