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State to issue religious license plates
Dalboz
Resident Puppy EaterRight behind you...Registered User regular
Resident Puppy EaterRight behind you...Registered User regular
Of course, this is happening in a southern state (South Carolina):
[strike]http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/sclicense.plates/index.html[/strike]
Basically, South Carolina is going to start issuing license plates with a Christian theme, including a cross and the words "I Believe" emblazoned on the license plate. Lawsuits have already been filed in federal court to put a stop to a blatant violation of the separation of the church and state. Apparently, Florida considered a similar thing but decided against it because they were smart enough to realize that violation. Again, there's the world, there's the U.S., and then there's the south...
In somewhat related news, North Carolina is offering to replace the ten thousand license plates that got sent out with the letter combination "WTF."
Edit: Updating link to the original story since the old link is broken (Thanks, Meiz).
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/State_plans_to_offer_Christian_license_0708.html
[strike]http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/sclicense.plates/index.html[/strike]
Basically, South Carolina is going to start issuing license plates with a Christian theme, including a cross and the words "I Believe" emblazoned on the license plate. Lawsuits have already been filed in federal court to put a stop to a blatant violation of the separation of the church and state. Apparently, Florida considered a similar thing but decided against it because they were smart enough to realize that violation. Again, there's the world, there's the U.S., and then there's the south...
In somewhat related news, North Carolina is offering to replace the ten thousand license plates that got sent out with the letter combination "WTF."
Edit: Updating link to the original story since the old link is broken (Thanks, Meiz).
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/State_plans_to_offer_Christian_license_0708.html
Dalboz on
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They should disallow those plates just for being damn ugly.
Seriously. I'd love to be driving a whatthefuck-mobile.
Do Americans realise how bat-shit-crazy the US seems to the rest of the world?
Just not the Commonwealth.
Except for Zimbabwe >.>
First that particular crazy door swings both ways. We think the world is pretty badshit nuts ourselves.
Second its the south. Quick lesson on when to ignore a news story from the US. If its from a state in the south east part of the country and involves religious idiocy, or racial tension. Ignore it. The "south" is fucking nuts. We also have the "bible belt" IE the central states, however they do not usually end up making the news.
If the story is from Florida and involves the elderly or just people being completely retarded. Ignore it.
If the story is from Texas, and involves any of the following: pickup truck, gun violence, propane, rednecks, Cowboys, the word "y'all", or trailer parks. Ignore it. Texas is a very special part of the US, they are quite a bit different than the rest of us. You get to run the gambit from illiterate hillbillies, to down to earth folk with a lot of common sense.
California, pretty much ignore anything out of California unless your interested in being entertained. When it sinks into the ocean the other 49 states plan on holding a nation holiday.
Personally I think we're all stupid. Including me.
Oh no, we use that as an excuse to bomb for oil. It is a lot like drilling for oil in someone elses backyard, while playing with plastic army men. It is currently our national past time.
You are correct though, in that much of the country sees other parts of the country as batshit.
Mind you, is it really any more batshit than the jesus-fish signifiers of 'christian' businesses that appear in many US phonebooks?
Did you forget to take your meds this morning?
No reason to be so harsh, everyone here in Nevada is just eagerly awaiting our beach front property.
Cat, I want you to know something. Given that pretty much every time you post its a personal attack of some nature, its important for you to understand this.
You are by far the most toxic human being I know. So toxic in fact that I feel sorry for any male unfortunate enough to stick his dick in you. Such a male who first enduring your company of a sufficient length of time, a heroic feat unto itself, would then get to enjoy the unequaled pleasure of watching first his penis, and then this body slowly rot away.
It is for this reason that I do not tell you to get fucked. I would not inflict that cruelty upon anyone.
Now please if you cannot respond to my posts in an intelligent manner, one lacking in personal attacks, and stick to the subject at hand. Then please, just do not respond to my posts. It will make everyones life a little better.
South Carolina. NC is the one with the WTF license plates.
You know, I'd have no problem with this if they offered similar license plates for other religions. As far as I'm concerned, if people want to broadcast their religion on their cars, let 'em, provided the option is open to everyone. Of course, we don't live in Never-never-land, so that won't happen.
Personally, I'd be happy if we just got rid of custom-design license plates altogether. Let people pick their combination of letters and numbers if they want, but make them all the same design. Maybe different states could have different plates (haha, rhyme) for easy identification, but aside from that, they'd be uniform.
Edit: Christ, Detharin, calm the fuck down.
Steam | Twitter
Whoa there, how could anyone not want democracy? At the very least we are replacing the armed gunmen who terrorize their every waking moment as part of a never ending struggle as various tribes fight for dominance, with armed gunmen from outside their country who barely speak their language.
As soon as we have "made things better" then they can start voting themselves right back where they were. Thats progress right?
Anyway, the South is very deeply religiously entrenched. Heck certain parts of our country are very special in their own right. If you read about an odd law, ordinance, or news story there are certain parts of the country where that might make a lot of sense. IE crazies in Florida, Religious wackos in the south, Trigger happy cowboys in Texas, and pretty much anything out of California (except gay marriage thats currently the exception thats proving the rule about how fucked up they are).
Personally i'm from Nevada. We are famous of gambling, brothels, burying hookers in the desert, Area 51, and missile tests. The stories you get out of Nevada also have a tendency to be a bit special. Just look up anything involving Oscar Goodman.
I should apologise to the "normals". You just dont make for interesting news I guess. But images of "megachurches" and children lining up to praise the "nation" before they get to learn, are just as unnerving as the stuff you see coming out of these 'rogue states'.
The problem comes in that the sheer number of religions would be costs prohibitive. This will likely end badly, but then again i do not think anyone involved at the state, or local level is really thinking about it in quite the same ways we are. They just see it as offering their local religious majority a way of expressing that. Taken for where the plates are, it probably makes sense to them. They do not consider the larger issues.
The problem with adding religious symbols, possibly in place of letters could get messy. What happens when someone takes a swastika or something else that means something completely different in their religion than what the general populous believes it means.
Best just to keep religion out of government. Oh well its South Carolina.
I'm actually quite calm, if a little sleepy. Ill probably be crashing out soon.
Oh, I know there's the standard "RAH RAH RAH SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE" business but c'mon now.
People have Star Trek licence plates, Elvis licence plates, Golf licence plates.
Religious licence plates aren't okay?
I dunno, man.
I dunno.
Basically, the Christian plate is getting a special exception made for it. If the rules were the same for any plate, I wouldn't think there would be much of a problem.
Yes, I am aware of the various problems that would arise when catering to all religions. Hence why my post was in the vein of "this is how it would be in the best of all possible worlds" In practical terms, I stand by the belief that the best solution is to do away with custom-design plates. They aren't there for you to express your individuality, they are there for the purposes of identifying your car. You want personalization, you get a goddamn bumper sticker.
Steam | Twitter
Its more that they're endorsing one religion specifically.
And its the whole church and state - thing. You have to see the difference. When a state ethnically clenses its population because they refused to see that Kirk was superior to Picard - you might have a point.
If you aren't allowed to get the invisible pink unicorn on your plate there would still be a problem.
People get plates that say LUVELVS or DRTHVDR. This situation is completely different. You get a normal plate number but the plate itself has a cross and "I believe" on it. The fact that they are offering something so specifically for one religious group while ignoring all others (and non-believers as well) is clearly a state endorsement of one religion which is a no go.
I dunno.
...because....? And again, the issue is not about custom plates for all religions, it's about custom plates for all religions + allowing religious satire, atheist and agnostic plates if somebody is daft enough to ask about one.
Because no matter how inclusive you try to be in what you provide, inevitably you're going to exclude someone.
Quick, how many religions can you name, just off the top of your head?
Hell, check Wikipedia if you like
Now, try to work out the logistics of making sure to have appropriate casting equipment and designs to make plates to order for all of them.
Just in case.
But they didnt even try... And nobody getting them is fairer than just Christians.
I see the point of "is it really that big a deal?" But the problem is it looks like favouritism. And State sponsored religious favouritism just isnt appropriate for a government that boasts a separation of church and state.
When you truly adopt the philosophy of religious freedom - part of the sacrifice is any perks you might have been receiving. Thats what makes it worthwhile. Otherwise it hypocrisy.
Why is there a need for the state to offer custom religious plates in the first place? I mean, it's like if they started offering boxed school lunch options where the boxes bore religious symbols and messages from holy texts--not only would that create a bunch of establishment issues, but why would you even do that in the first place?
It's enough to make plates available on request. Nobody gives a fuck about them having a catalog of every religion. The claim that you believe in something and want it on your plate should suffice. The logistics should be trivial unless plate casting is still stuck in the mid 20th century. And one last time, if somebody can put "I believe" on his plate, people should be able to put "All religions are fairy tales." on theirs.
I think it would be reasonable if anyone could get a custom plate if they are willing to pay the $4000 fee to start making them (that is to say, if the opportunity was there for other religions). The issue is that, as it stands, you couldn't get, say, a Crescent and the text"Allahu Ackbar", even if you were willing to put up the cash.
If you were allowed to pay extra to put an emblem on your licence plate, be it a cross or the Bat Symbol or the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Starfleet Insignia, you folks would be cool with it?
Just as long as Christians weren't getting it cheaper or could have more stuff on their plate than other people, right?
If the same option isn't available for all religious people then it should not be available for any religious group. If they wanted to do this and be fair about it they could use a basic template and let individuals select from various religious symbols and print up the plates.
And as someone said, even if another group of believers or non-believers wanted to do this they still couldn't, which is a blatant violation of the 1st amendment.
I would probably question the need in the first place - Licence plates perform a very valuable function thats administered by the Government... But I would have less of an issue with it, yes.
Yup. I'd still think it's a stupid thing to do, but as long as everything is equal, I don't see how could anybody have a problem with it.