Well, Jay, Americans United won a very significant victory late last week in a case in South Carolina involving license plates. U.S. District Court Judge Cameron McGowan Currie granted a preliminary injunction against the state continuing to market or actually send out plates with the phrase “I Believe” on them. Lest anyone doubt what the metal signs are referring to, the plates contain both a yellow cross and a stained glass church window. Hint: they are Christian plates. They were actually designed by a legislator, then approved by a unanimous vote of the legislature this summer, and were the focus of a marketing campaign this fall.
In temporarily halting the plates, the judge specifically noted that she didn’t see how the plates met even one of the requirements of established Supreme Court jurisprudence in religion cases. The plates, on the basis of the evidence presented so far, seem to promote religion, seem to have no secular purpose, and seem to entangle government with religion.
A few critics are now griping that if the plates are not allowed, the “free speech” of drivers will be impaired. Spare me, please. Long before the South Carolina legislature weighed in on this, many Christians in the state had bumper stickers on their cars affirming their faith or “fish” symbols attached to the car bodies. No one can or should stop such displays. No, this plate was not about free speech; it was one more shameless effort by legislators to adopt a religious symbol for political purposes. This is why religious leaders in the state were among the plaintiffs.
It is not yet known whether the state will bother to try to defend its decision on the merits. Let’s hope they don’t. It will save everybody a lot of time and South Carolinians a lot of money.
posted December 16, 2008 at 10:32 am
Now,if only the Florida legislature could learn and apply the same lesson! But who can resist a smokescreen for dubious decisions like this. Making a Big Deal about little things like this allow real problems and careless solutions slip by unnoticed.
posted December 16, 2008 at 11:31 am
Congratulations to AU! Now why don’t you go after those Roman Catholic hospitals that hang crucifixes in all the rooms, all the while they’re operating on public funds and are required by law to serve all comers without discrimination?
If Jesus knew about the continuing sins of the Catholic Church he’d be spinning in his grave!
posted December 16, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Jimbino, I know of a Jewish man who always hangs his hat on the crucifix when he has to go to a Catholic hospital.
Why do Catholics need their own hospitals in the first place, though?
posted December 17, 2008 at 11:21 am
Lest we forget, a unanimous South Carolina also favored slavery and secession, so the unanimous backing of such an obvious unconstitutional act, though a reflection of the lack of even basic civics knowledge by the SC legislature, is not totally unexpected.
Why do Catholics need their own hospitals? The don’t need them. They provide them because unlike Bible-thumping Protestant Evangelical Fundamentalists, they take Matthew 25 seriously. If we had National Healthcare, like every other civilized country, we would have ne need for religious proselytizing disguised as social services…
posted December 18, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Jimbo please=Jesus isnt in his grave he’s in heaven.
posted January 4, 2009 at 1:09 pm
“Jimbo please=Jesus isnt in his grave he’s in heaven.”
Reminds me of my favorite Harry Dresden t-shirt: Easter’s been canceled; they found the body.
posted January 4, 2009 at 3:10 pm
There was no tomb and no body to find. The story of Jesus Christ is as untrue as any that has ever been told on this planet.
posted January 5, 2009 at 10:31 am
Boris,
The existence of Jesus as a man is a matter of historical record. You can, and should, pursue your own beliefs (not believing is a belief), but denying history doesn’t make sense.
There is a difference between believing that Jesus was the Messiah and noting that such a man once lived.
By the by, a dear friend of mine, is being dying of cancer in a Catholic teaching hospital in Europe. Decent health care is badly needed in the US, in Europe, where we have it, the Catholics are still working hard to provide wonderful medical services.
posted January 5, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Panthera,
There is absolutely NO historical record of Jesus Christ. None whatsoever. I challenge you to provide any evidence at all that you can find that proves Jesus Christ actually existed. Don’t ignore the challenge believer of fairy tales. I’ve seen what passes for evidence among believers for the existence of Jesus and it’s a complete joke. Wheel out your Josephus forgery, your references to the existence of Christians from a couple of SECOND century historians and then tell me that proves something! ROFL!
posted January 19, 2009 at 11:50 am
Boris,
So where is your proof that Jesus Christ did not exist and that the stories of his life are not true? You seem very sure of yourself and your statements, so much so that you would try to shatter someone elses faith for no reason other than your own gratification. So please illuminate us with your proof. Your rolling on the floor laughing does not do anything to help your position, so please try to make an intelligent and insightful arguement. A small aside question also, do you believe that the Muslims and the Jews are following “untrue” stories and “fairy tales”? Thank you.
posted January 19, 2009 at 8:44 pm
knightemplar,
The stories in the Gospels are as untrue as any that have ever been told in the world. The most obvious clue is that they contain stories that are full of word for word dialog between people, demons and people, angels and people, Jesus and Satan and stories with dialog are NOT EVER historical narratives, they’re fictive. There are and can be no exceptions to this rule especially when it comes to ancient literature. When we hold the Bible up to the same routine criticism we do other texts it does not hold up at all as historical. It doesn’t matter how many people have believed otherwise, intellectuals have always known better. The masses never stop to think just exactly how small group of travelers could follow a star to a particular house. They just swallow that absurd story without even thinking about it.
There are several events described in the Gospels which we happen to know are fictions. One is the census described in Luke and the opening of the graves and appearance of people to their old friends and wives described in Matt 27:52-53 is another and it’s ridiculous. An event such as this going completely unnoticed and unreported by anyone outside the Bible could not have happened. But the thing is that NONE of the major events or ANY of the major figures described in the Bible can be identified in anything that could in any way be considered an historical document. This would include Jesus but also Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon and the rest of the 40 kings. Nor is there any evidence for the existence of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel described in the OT. Most importantly not only do the Egyptians tell us nothing about the Passover event they don’t mention a word of the Israelites in the mountain of historical documents we do have from these people. An event as catastrophic as the Passover, which would have left a literal mountain of archaeological evidence, going totally unnoticed and unmentioned by the Egyptians is impossible. No Passover, poof, no Passover lamb.
The fact is that there is no mention of Jesus in Jewish history either and I’m a Jew. So to answer your last question, yes the Jews and Muslims are following untrue stories and fairy tales. The Jews cursed the world with monotheism. The Christians and Muslims are cut from the same cloth. What they hate in each other is what they secretly hate in themselves. And they seem determined to kill us all fighting over whose fairytales to believe. To see just how good the case against Christ really is I would suggest an essay you can find on the Internet by Marshall J. Gauvin, a visit to Jesusneverexisted.com and Evilbible.com as well as some of the Ex-Christian sites.
posted October 18, 2009 at 8:15 pm
The message on the license plate is not an Establishment Clause case and should be appealed under a Free Speech analysis. The phrase “I believe”, like that of “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, is not a prayer or religious exercise and does not establish a particular religion.
Moreover, even if one inappropriately does an Establishment Clause analysis of this case, it could be argued that the license plates are NOT necessarily representing Christianity since a cross is a universal symbol for sacrifice and is often an emblem of heroism given to exemplary soldiers. Moreover, a stained-glass window could be symbolic of an artist or perhaps a painter. Thus, no religion is being established and the license plate should be accepted and recognized under a Free Speech analysis.