Rethink Iowa’s English requirements

The state of Iowa at the present time has a law that states that only English is to be the official language in the state. There was an attempt in the legislature to repeal this law (HF 81) and this crucial measure failed.

As citizens, we must be aware that this lack of action may have important consequences in the future for our state

This failure to act by the legislature implies that any expression with a phrase that uses a foreign language will not be permitted within the state. This law may have very deep ramifications for various religions where foreign expressions are typically heard in a service at the church, the synagogue or the mosque and they must now be said only in English.

The implications of this law are profound in that there may never again be the possibility of having a Roman Catholic mass in Latin, there may be no Hebrew words such as Amen at the end of a prayer and no Arabic statements such as Allah ak-bar could ever be said again.

In addition, money that has been widely circulating throughout the state of Iowa might have to be re-minted in order to remove all of the non-English expressions that have been inscribed on them. For example, E pluribus unum, which is found on the great seal of the United States and on coins, may have to be replaced in all future financial transactions within the state of Iowa.

Karl Lonngren

Iowa City