There will be an outcry from the religious right this week. There will be gnashing of teeth and the tearing of cloth and wailing in the street at how religion is being attacked. I'm sure we'll hear O'Reilly and Limbaugh comment on this in the upcoming days on how Christianity is once again under attack. This should be fun to watch.
It's no secret that being deep in the bible belt, South Carolina would walk a fine line and possibly cross over that line when it comes to the Separation of Church and State clause.
Recently, the SC Legislature voted to pass a bill that allowed the production of the "I Believe" license plate, as was requested by many Christian groups and supporters. The argument against this was that there wasn't allowance for a license plate that represented other faiths sentiments.
After it passed, there was the question of just how long it would take for a lawsuit to be filed contesting the constitutionality of this tag. Not too long, it seems.
According to The State Newspaper, June 20, 2008, Lawsuit was filed contesting the constitutionality of license plate. So now you have one side of the argument saying that by denying the Christians their license plate it's denying their right to religion and another side saying it goes against the Separation of Church and State.
Now I've never been one for passing a law specifically for one specific faith or religion and do happen to agree with the group filing the lawsuit. After all, there is no law on the books forbiding the faithful to wear their faith on their sleeve and place an "I believe" license plate on the front of their cars, or display various bumper stickers and decals professing their faith all the while swearing at their fellow drivers on the freeways. Okay, so maybe they ALL don't swear at their fellow drivers, however, I digress here. Why the need to have a government approved sign of one's faith.
So now we'll be hearing once again how religion and the freedom of religion is being challenged by non-believing heathens who want to take God completely out of their lives. Of course, it will be a total fabrication of lies and spin by the religious right and their supporters, since those challenging the law on the license plates are....
Four SC Christian Clergymen and a Hindu organization. This should be fun to watch the right spin this one.