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Florida to Make Christian License Plates?


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The Florida legislature is considering to allow the manufacture of specialty license plates that have a stain-glass window with a cross on it with the slogan "I believe" to its side. Is this overstepping the chasm between Church and State?






(I think so.)
CCashman

10 responses // Florida to Make Christian License Plates?

  • . . ., if people want to express their faith there are numerous bumper stickers available. If I were a Floridian I wouldn't want my tax dollars supporting this.
    pattik
  • If this wasn't a christian license plate, this story wouldn't even be news. Does no one in here know that "separation of church and state" was meant to protect the church from being controlled by the state and not the other way around?
    weskandel
  • sadly the general populace does not weskandel
    diode
  • http://current.com/items/88857180_specialty_license_pla...
    Image...
    Lest we forget, Florida has also proposed a license plate with the rebel flag on it.

    Florida's legislature, during their regular session, has focused on social issues while the state is in a deep budget hole. I feel powerless (even though I work for a state rep. candidate) to prove that license plates shouldn't be a priority right now. Nor banning "Truck Nuts", nor Anti-Abortion measures, nor more pro-gun laws, etc.
    jpfdeuce
  • Weskandel,

    I am well aware of the origins of the "separation of Church and State", and this clearly violates that idea. Let's say that instead of a cross it had the star and crescent of Islam. In that case, I would also be incensed because it would show that the government was favoring one religion over all the other traditions in existence. Unless they would be prepared to accommodate all the other faiths, like one plate with the star of David, or one for atheists that said "I don't believe", or one for agnostics that read "I don't know", they should not be producing religiously themed plates.

    To go along with pattik's sentiment, if all of the religiously-themed bumper stickers are not enough for you, then I'm sorry, but you're out of luck. This is definitely not the best way to spend Floridian taxpayers' money, regardless of what religious symbol is printed on it.
    CCashman
  • I find it intensly humerous that some here cite the non-existant "separation of church and state" as an objection to this while some decry legislative efforts for "more pro-gun laws...". The First Amendment says nothing about any separation of church and state. It DOES say that Congress shall make no law establishing a religion but it also says that Congress shalll not prohibit the free exercise of religion. This in no way can be construed as an establishment of any religion by the government.
    Regarding gun laws......we have the Second Amendment. As a result all anti gun laws are unconstitutional. It is very dishonest that people who rail about things such as abortion, where the Supremes found a previously undetected implied right to privacy, and religions where the implied "separation of church and state" is an issue, fail to accept the explicit individual right that "shall not be infringed".
    Rights exist for everyone as a protection against a tyrannical government. We can't just pick and choose the ones we like and discard the ones we don't. If we employ this method of Constitutional adherrence the rights of the people are variable and subject to the whims of the majority. Presto we have a democracy. How about we keep it a republic.
    Paratus
  • While the "separation of church and state" comes from an 1802 letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, it does pertain and is central to the first amendment. By not establishing a state religion, that includes not having endorsements of a particular religion on state property or something issued by the state. How would you feel if you looked at your driver's license and saw the phrase, "Praise be to Jesus" or seeing "In honor of Muhammad, Allah's blessings be upon him" on some declassified CIA document? I grant you that these are bizarre examples, but they do highlight my point.

    When it comes to gun laws...


    That's a topic for another thread.
    CCashman
  • I'm familiar with the origin of the concept of "separation of church and state" that has seemed to take on a constitutional life of it's own. Say what you want, it does not appear in the first amentment. One can infer ANYTHING. As I have said before, "I don't know what you mean but I know what you said". I would suggest that even if the separation idea was in the Constitution it would not apply in this case. No one is forcing motorists to put these plates on their cars. They are in response to a request. If the government said these were the only plates one could use I may agree with you. They aren't and I don't.
    Paratus
  • Absolutely not. It's an extension of the freedom of speech and/or freedom of expresion that the US was founded on.

    So long as it remains a specialty plate and is not being forced upon everyone, leave it alone.
    vixen0078
  • i agree with pattik. I wouldn't want tax dollars going to this.
    stephenthomson

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