American’s United has won a small victory in the war against theocracy.
A federal judge today ruled that the state of South Carolina may not issue a special “Christian” license plate featuring a cross, a stained-glass window and the words “I Believe.”
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which sponsored the litigation to stop issuance of the plate, hailed the decision.
“The ‘I Believe’ license plate is a clear example of government favoritism toward one religion,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “The court drove home an important point: South Carolina officials have no business meddling in religious matters.”
I’m sure it didn’t help that various lawmakers in South Carolina made it abundantly clear that they only voted yes because the plate was for Christians and would have most certainly voted no had it been any other religious group.
I do wonder how they’re going to spin this as a war against “religious freedom” and not theocracy by us mean ole secularists as all the complainants are religious people and organizations.
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I’m sure they will try to spin it just like you said. The key lesson in all of this (and in the Washington State fiasco) seems to be that Christians have a hard decision to make. If they want their religious delusion honored by government, they open the door to all belief systems getting exactly the same treatment. If they don’t like this, they can keep their religious delusion to themselves and stop trying to get government to promote it.
I smile every time I think about what’s taking place in Washington. As of today there’s a group that wants to put up a Festivus pole and the Phelps gang wants to put up a sign saying Santa Claus will ‘take you to hell’. I wonder who’s going to step up to the plate next.
I imagine a world with atheist plates – and a higher property crime rate. Perhaps, I am cynical.
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