I Believe
In South Carolina Yesterday (June 19), Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a federal lawsuit (on behalf of two Christian pastors, a humanist pastor and a rabbi) to prevent the stat’s Department of Motor Vehicles from issuing “I BELIEVE” license plates (featuring a crucifix against the background of a stained glass window) on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment.
Rhetoric runs high: a Methodist pastor said, “this license plate is really divisive and creates… religious discord.” South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell said opposition to the plate “has less to do with the First Amendment and more to do with their disdain for religion generally.”
Because, you know, disdain for religion is what you’d expect from pastors and rabbis.
In principle, I’d side with the pro-plate people: after all, here are thousand of special-interest plates out there, showing support for disease research, alma maters, square dancing, identifying the driver as a Newark, New Jersey firefighter, and apparently nobody’s rights have been seriously violated.
But here’s the thing: The AUSCS has no objection to the license plate per se, only the fact that it was proposed by the Legislature. Under South Carolina law, any private group can have a specialty plate made up as long as they can either guarantee 400 prepaid orders or raise a $4,000 deposit (which will be returned once the state has sold enough plates to cover its expenses).
So are the legislative advocates for the plate stepping aside, letting the private sector (perhaps, I don’t know, maybe churches?) sponsor it, to save the state well more than $4,000 in legal bills? Apparently not, because this is a matter of principle. Or election-year political pandering, whatever.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Oh sure, Bill, election-year political pandering. Well someone has to stand up for those poor Christians. They’re very oppressed, you know! And they only make up about 85% of the population, so if the government doesn’t stand up for them, who will? I mean, you just posted this article, you see how bad it is. Even other Christians have “disdain” for religion! It is so tough to be a Christian in this country right now, nevermind how unlucky you are if you’re a white, Christian male. They have it the worst of all!
June 25th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Unfortunately this is NOT a comic or a joke. The South Carolina legislators have decided to offer this vanity plate to drivers in that state.
Normally the state offers vanity plates that are requested by various groups. Say SCU (South Carolina University) would like the state to offer vanity plates. The college approaches the state and is charge a fee, and then the state charges between $40 and $60 for the plate, part of the profit going to the state and part to the organization.
In this case, no one has requested the plate design and the state is only charging $6 for the plate.
Clearly, this is a violation of the establishment clause of the first amendment to the constitution. The state has taken upon itself to offer a license plate promoting a single religion at a significant discount to make it easy and affordable to obtain. No plates showing the symbols of other religions are offered. An atheist who wanted a license plate that stated “I believe in reason” was charged the customary $40 for the privilege.
Besides the inequity of the cost of the plate, the plate will be on display at every DMV in South Carolina. Because of the exclusion of all other religions, the state is effectively choosing Christianity as the state preferred religion.
Needless to say I am offended and outraged that a state would promote any religious message, much less a specific one and with such disregard for the Constitution of the United States.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:21 am
By the way, that appears to be a cross rather than a crucifix. Which is probably one small positive, as a crucifix tend to be associated with specific Christian groups (i.e. Catholicism) as opposed to Christianity in general and that would make it *even more* exclusionary.
That said, I agree about the state promoting religion with this, and cannot understand why they even started the whole thing. Ugh.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Here’s the only real problem with any religious plate. And while my scenario is admittedly a bit of a stretch, it is entirely plausible.
Your state offers a religious plate at no cost (as they do here in Indiana) or for a nominal fee. you are driving and commit a small driving infraction (say 5MPH over the limit). Now the cop who pulls you over can see your plate, and see if it is religious or not.
If the cop is a “born again/God fearing christian” would it change his decision whether or not your should get a ticket or a warning depending on what license plate you have? I know some crazy religious types who would definitely ticket the normal plate and let the religious plate off with a warning.
The first amendment protects the State from religion as equally as it does religion from the State.
PS: In Indiana the legislature was clever enough to use the phrase “In God We Trust” (ala US hard currency) rather than the far more blatant “I Believe”. Frankly if you want to make a statement about your faith on your car, buy a bumper sticker like everyone else has over the last 100 years of automobiles.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
The thing is, Steven, the people who would pay for an “I Believe” license plate would probably have a ton of similar bumper stickers anyway.
June 25th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Can I get one with SATAN on it?
June 25th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Steven — I don’t think that is a stretch at all — I think that kind of thing happens all the time and not just based on religious bumper stickers or license plates. I have no doubt that if you have some sort of political/religious/humorous statement on your car that will make it more or less likely for you to get stopped and ticketed depending on the officer.
JeffE — Yep — but it will cost you a LOT more than if you wanted the “I believe plate”
June 25th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Steven — I disagree that your scenario is the only real problem with the plate.
The fact is that every person in South Carolina is subsidizing the cost of the plate regardless of their religious beliefs.
The real problem is that this violates the United States Constitution. I don’t know how anyone could interpret this as anything but promoting a particular religious belief. There is a reason for the establishment clause. It keeps government out of religion and religion out of government. If you don’t think that is important check out how well theocracies have worked in the past.
June 25th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
This is brought to you by the same folks who want to teach creationism in science class and build/visit/laud museums with dinosaurs and people cavorting together. hmmmm.
June 25th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Steven -
I’d assume that the situation you describe wouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not the plate has religious symbolism.
In your state, for instance, they offer plates with college logos. Don’t you think a cop who loves I.U. might sometimes be tempted to be more forgiving to a driver with an I.U. plate and a bit more strict towards a guy with a Purdue plate (and vice-versa)?
June 25th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
My problem is more with the need people feel to trumpet their religion, i.e. how virtuous they are, to everyone, everywhere. In Matthew, it basically says not to wear your religion on your sleeve, but to keep it hidden, to let your actions speak for your beliefs.
June 25th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
By the same token, there are sure to be non-Christian cops who would be more likely to write the ticket because of the plate, and may even go out of their way to cause the Christian trouble. Granted, this would be a much more likely scenario if the plate had some kind of Muslim theme, with a cop that was anything else.
June 25th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Arik, while that may be true for some, for many others it’s “I’m saved; you can be too!”
My prior post was in response to Steven; I didn’t realize there would be so many responses between when I first read the thread and when I got around to adding my own opinion.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
In Matthew, it basically says not to wear your religion on your sleeve, but to keep it hidden, to let your actions speak for your beliefs.
Amen.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Here in Florida (where stupid met crazy) they’ve had “Choose Life” plates for years, with what looks like a child’s crayon drawing on it. Same sort of idiocy, same sort of thing the state should be keeping well clear of.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I find it interesting that so many people seem to feel threatened by other people expressing their religious beliefs. I guess this is where freedom of speech meets freedom from religion.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I’d get one and customize it to say NOT. It would be brief, but fun.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Tim, I fully support your freedom of speech to make any religious statements you want. But you don’t have the right to have the government subsidize your religious speech.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
I agree with Winter. While I am a Christian and some of these responses have made me roll my eyes, the government should not be involved. If someone wants a custom religious license plate they should have the right to display it, but not at the expense of the government and the tax-payers. That being said, just because the legislature for this state is making a stupid movie doesn’t make it appropriate for people here to bash Christians in general. I don’t bash atheists and wouldn’t criticize them for their beliefs if there were a similar post involving them. Show some respect.
June 26th, 2008 at 2:58 am
Howabominable (aka Lindsey ^_^): I’m sorry if I offended you. Had I chosen to answer the question seriously, I’d agree that separation of church and state protects both.
But a certain element of the dominant religion in this country seems to feel oppressed unless it expresses itself in every public venue possible. This license plate seems to embody that. In my state you can’t drive for more than five minutes before running across a religious-themed personalized license plate — Christian, of course. And yet the ones that the state bans are vastly disproportionately tags like ATHEIST or WICCA, etc. etc.
It’s not the religion I object to, it’s the exceptionalism. I find this mentality mockable regardless of the context — in this case it just happened to be Christianity.
Okay I’m shutting up now in case I’m just digging myself a deeper hole. I’m sorry, really. I don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun coming here.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Crime Bill: Ah, but the problem is that by *not* choosing a religious plate it can be inferred that the driver is not a christian (since, to hear many people these days, you must constantly remind people that you are a christian).
Nicole: Again, voluntarily adding religious paraphernalia to your car is your choice; you “know the risks” as it were. But by actively choosing to *not have* a religious symbol is a different matter.
Patrick: Yes, but the constitution doesn’t prohibit that.
I think it might be an interesting thing to get some custom license plate frames that make the plates appaear to read (after the “I Believe” part):
-”that this license plate violates the separation of Church and State.”
-”in Gay Marriage.”
-”in Evolution.”
-”I’ll have another beer.”
etc…
June 26th, 2008 at 10:36 am
In civilised countries, all license plates are the same, usually white (sometimes yellow) with the license number clearly visible on them. People are free to decorate every other part of the car, but the plate is standard-issue.
Get a bumper sticker if you feel the need to tell everybody what you believe.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Question: does this license plate cost more than a regular license plate? If so, is the state really subsidizing it? Furthermore, since the state allows private messages on license plates, you can’t tell just by looking at a plate whether the state sponsored the message or not. I think this probably is an Establishment Clause violation, but it may not be as simple as it appears at first glance.
June 26th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Hunt, the license costs the same as a regular license plate, but MUCH less than a vanity license plate supporting any other religion or set of beliefs. Therefore it is a subsidy.
There’s no real way to disagree with that: it’s a vanity plate, yet you don’t pay for it being a vanity plate because Christians are better than everyone else and deserve special treatment just for “believing”. And if they don’t get extra-special treatment, being treated far better than anyone else and getting things for free that other people have to pay for, they’re being “discriminated against”.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Charlene, I’m pretty sure when you buy a “Protect Wildlife” or “Fight Breast Cancer” license plate, you pay a premium because the state donates that portion of the money to that cause — whereas I doubt they’d even attempt to charge a premium for “I Believe” plates so they could donate it to… Where WOULD they donate the money?
So the question is whether the I Believe plates cost less than a Jewish, Muslim, Flying Spaghetti Monster or Atheist plates would cost.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Flying Spaghetti Monster? Oh do tell me they have one. With a pirate patch too? I’d MOVE just to get one of those.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Bill, many of South Carolina’s specialty plates do include a charitable donation, but several do not. One example is the Secular Humanist plate, which does not include any donation to the Secular Humanists, but does cost $30 over the standard fee. See here for the assortment of SC plates (minus the new one).
June 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Andrea, I love it. Unlike all the others I looked at on the link you posted (admittedly, I might not have read all, but certainly most), the secular humanists don’t get any of the premium charged for the plate. So where DOES it go? You made me curious, so I check out PA’s website. Although I wasn’t able to find what the additional costs were, there was a list of plates available : http://www.dot3.state.pa.us/license_plates/plate-special_org.shtml
and a stats page that listing how many of each were issued: http://www.dot3.state.pa.us/pdotforms/stats/Pennsylvania%20Active%20License%20Plates.pdf
I didn’t see any that were promoting any religions, except those associated with colleges, the bulk of which I would assume are Catholic.
There were, however, a couple that left me thinking WTF? Ohio State Alumni and Delware State University tags are available . Whodathunk there’d be anybody who would want them, let alone enough of them to be worth the tooling up effort. Well, obviously somebody did, and rightly so with 270 and 263 active plates out there in 2005!