"No GODS" License plate denied

Michele, you might want to consider putting a comment in Hemat's blog with a link back to your blog so they can see your opinion.

The Friendly Atheist crowd is concerned about religious people being intolerant of them. So your post might change their opinion about the tolerance of religious people.

"offensive to good taste and decency."

Absolutely.

IOW, we ask again, "Why does an atheist seek to put this on his car?" Just to be offensive. There's no other reason. Ask him. A genuine atheist wouldn't care.

Let's stop playing games.

I'll pray for you, Robert.

Moonshadow, I'm not sure if your question was rhetorical, or what you mean by a genuine atheist.

It seems that the atheist is proselytizing which is different than having a license plate with profanity on it. He is trying to change people's minds. Granted he's likely to fail and offend people, but I didn't say he was skilled at his task.

Part of the issue with the word atheist is that it's an overloaded term. It can mean someone who lacks religious beliefs, but it also encompasses active anti-theists like Christopher Hitchens. Ironically anti-theists often refer to apathetic atheists as not real atheists.

I would think Hitchens qualifies as a genuine atheist and I could see him putting that license plate on his car.

they need to check and see if the in god we trust was paid for by public money. if it was, then no gods as just as much right to be there as a car plate. This is a wonderful example of how some want beliefs promoted but others denied. I hope they take it to court. I'm tired of specific Christian sects promoting their beliefs using public money and denying others. it's all or nothing.

So, Moonshadow, atheists, a group you are not a member of, are to have both their membership and identity defined by both you and the State Government. Government officials are to issue custom plates based on their assessment of the mindset of the party involved and if they determine if that person is a member of that group?

So, will this apply to everyone, to everyone but Christians, or just atheists?

The next time someone wants an 'In God We Trust' plate, will an official be able to make a personal determination 'That person only wants the plate to upset another group and they aren't a 'real' Christian, because real Christians don't assume that God only blesses one particular country, and might not always be blessing America, for that matter'

Myself, that's not a role I care to assign, or a power I wish to give to a bureaucratic functionary, but other's mileage may vary.

In other words, it isn't any of their business why a person wants a plate. It isn't any of their business if a person is a particular faith, philosophy or of none. If they're not going to administer a religious test in order to grant the religious plates, it isn't their job to do so for non-religious ones. Either the plate, in and of itself, is considered acceptable or it is not.

Are you saying that, in and of itself, someone saying 'There is no God', if they were walking down the street, is so offensive you would want to take away their right to say it? If not, then why their right to display it on, of all things, a license plate?

Oh, and by the way, the only definition of 'atheist' is 'not a theist', period. A theist is someone who believes in a god. An atheist is not a person who believes in a god. It doesn't have a thing to do with how they deal with, or what they do, or don't do, based on that.

An atheist is entirely capable of making a statement, verbal or written, about their position.

I don't believe in unicorns, but if I lived in a world where there were people who did, who made assesements about my moral capabilities based on the fact that I did not, I'd care a lot more about the whole unicorn issue than I do currently.

I don't do so personally, but I'm certainly not going to kick people out of being 'atheists' for what they put on their license plate.