South Carolina did WHAT to their license plates?!
{Originally published on greeblemonkey}
Basically, here’s the deal. Seeing as June and July have been a complete BLUR, I have really not paid any attention to my family, much less the news till right about, oh, 60 seconds ago. So, when Bryan brought up the South Carolina license plate controversy, he got a big. fat. blank. stare.
After the obligatory Fill-Aimee-In-On-The-Stuff-She-Has-Been-Missing Conversation, and a few Google searches, I started to get mad. REALLY mad. In a nutshell, South Carolina has authorized a vanity license plate with the words “I Believe” plus the image of a stained glass window and a CROSS over top of it. Clearly an indication that “I Believe” in Jesus Christ. CLEARLY a violation of the separation of church and state.
Have they lost their minds?
But before I go any further with my indignation over this situation, whatever happened to the POINT of a license plate in the first place? WHY does every state have 15,000 variations of design? I know this sounds crazy coming from a graphic designer, but here lies the place where my design sensibilities hit the road, Jack. The PURPOSE of a license plate is for you, me and any random police officer to IDENTIFY a car at a glance. How am I supposed to do that when someone can purchase their own oh-so-special Buffy The Vampire Slayer license plates? What happened to ONE STATE, ONE PLATE? This *is* like an official testament from the holy mother of all departmental clusterfracks, the Department of Motor Vehicles, right? So, not only are you going to make it harder for me to identify the person who just sideswiped me, you are also going to make it harder for me to get through that everlasting line because Granny Smith can’t decide between the University of Florida or Florida State University - you see, she has a grandson at both schools, don’t you know! And maybe she could just get one plate from each and put them at either end of the car??? Wouldn’t that be special!? OH, SHUT UP.
One state, one plate.
And NONE of them should be religious.
Just tonight we were driving home from summer camp, for some unknown reason, Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take The Wheel” came on the radio. (”Unknown,” because why was I listening to a station that plays Carrie Underwood in the first place?)
And Declan asked me a very simple question with a VERY complex answer: “Mama, what is this song about?”
Until this point, we had never really talked about religion, seeing as both Bryan and I are agnostic. Well, not technically, in the sense that we do believe in a higher power, we just have no idea what the hell it is. How do you explain that to a near-6 year old?
But I tried.
I actually pulled the car over, turned it off (AC and all) and asked him if he knew who Jesus was. When he did not, I explained he was a person who lived 2,000 years ago and that many people believe he was the son of God.
“Do you believe he was the son of God?”
Crap.
“No. But I do think he was a really good person and had a lot of good things to say.”
And I went on to talk about the fact that there are a LOT of religions in the world. And that as he grows up, he can learn about them all, and if one really means a lot to him, he is welcome to believe whatever he wants to. And that many people find comfort in their religions, and that is what Carrie Underwood was talking about. That she was turning to Jesus to help guide her through a rough patch. Because that was what *she* believed.
“What do you believe, Mama?”
Crap.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. I believe in many many things, but when it comes to religion, I just don’t think I know enough to make a decision. But I also think every person has a right to believe what they want.”
And this, my friends, is why I get so ticked off when something like the governing body of South Carolina tries to shove a cross on a license plate down my throat. AND I DON’T EVEN LIVE IN SOUTH CAROLINA! You can try to tell me that our forefathers would have wanted this - but, sorry!, they *didn’t.* It was Eisenhower and his friends that put God on our money and into our Pledge. NOT the people who wrote out the laws and made this country a place where religion was free to go as religion saw fit.
And when you think about putting words as powerful as “I Believe” on something so directly linked to ALL the people of your state, you might want to think about ALL the things they believe in too.
***
Editor’s Pick by Liz from Three Bright Stars: Aimee writes her blog from her hometown of Denver, where she is busy designing graphics, developing web pages, and taking photos. She’s occasionally salty on the language - oh, and she’s agnostic. You noticed?
Check out the original post for fascinating discussion in the comments and be sure to subscribe to Greeblemonkey!
Editor
Liz BrightStars
|
October 1st, 2008
|
Category:
Author- greeblemonkey, Channel- Politics, Editor- Liz ThreeBrightStars, Featured 1, Liberal, Religion, Wednesday 1
|
Great post! Could you give us a link to the original post please?
Elisas last blog post..Here Comes the Sun!
Amen! Er, I mean, Right On! This would only be semi-humorous if there was a counter-license plate with “I Don’t Believe” or “I Have No Idea” on it. But, I’m seriously doubting the sense of humor of those legislators in S.C.
Fairly Odd Mothers last blog post..Trying To Keep The Peace
Not at all surprised about this happening in South Carolina, sadly. I agree with you on the pointlessness of “designer” plates esp. one that is really inappropriate.
I have to say that I’ve been going through this whole “religion” thing with my 8 yo since she began elementary school! In fact, I wrote a post about my most recent experience with this issue not so long ago.
Sounds like you handled it very well. Nice job!
Desirees last blog post..Wordless Wednesday #39
Wow. I just had the very same conversation with my 7 year old yesterday. (Well, except for the vanity plate thing, thankfully we don’t have those here in Israel because I’m sure I would have crashed my car into a bridge or something because all that fire in my eyes and smoke shooting out of my ears would have blinded me.)
Here he gets a dose of religion in his (secular public) school that we have to constantly monitor, since we are strongly in favor of tolerance, diversity and pluralism for all here in our house, and not at all in favor of having those responsible for teaching him facts (i.e. 2+2=4) also teaching him that “Jews MUST do this or that”. We’re (non-practicing basically atheist) Jews, and we decide for ourselves thankyouverymuch.
Robins last blog post..We’re back
Eek! Egads! I can’t believe it! Well, I can but eek and egads (again!) I just don’t want to!
So you think that everyone has a right to believe in whatever they want to–they just don’t have a right to express it publically. Especially if it contradicts what you choose to believe in. So you get to shove what you believe in down MY throat, but I’m not allowed the same ‘right’. I happen to live in South Carolina, and the last time I checked, having this license plate is BY CHOICE. No one makes you put it on your car. I’d be perfectly fine with a plate that said ‘I don’t believe’ or ‘I believe in nothing’ or whatever else tickles your fancy. It sounds to me that what offends you most is having to SEE a plate that expresses something you disagree with. Real tolerant, that.
I live in South Carolina and I just have to say that this religious plate is nothing new and if you would have looked a little harder, you would know that we have had a plate for some time now that says “In God We Trust”…I would like to know why we are being scrutinized over the new plate when we already have the same type of plate at the DMV office and when you get your plates you are asked if you would like that one or the “Smiling Faces Beautiful Places” although it’s been a few months since I’ve been in there and we have a new “REGULAR” plate as well.
Dude! You can get Buffy the Vampire Slayer license plates?
Awesome!
(Just kidding. I’m in total agreement. I’d also like to tell the woman I saw yesterday with the license plates that spelled out HUSSIE: You are an idiot.)
bejewells last blog post..Black Hockey Jesus Made Me Sign the Bloggess Up for the Gary Busey Fan Club, Part Two