Well I thought that the “I Believe” license plate fiasco was a dead story, at least for a while, but Tuesday night approximately 200 supporters of the proposed license plates gathered in Greer to hold a rally in an attempt to bolster support for it. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster spoke at the rally and has been outwardly supportive of the believers cause. Last month a federal judge issued an injunction ordering that the state stop production, advertisement, and sales of the plate stating that a federal court would most likely rule the plate unconstitutional.
If you think that its unusual for a state Attorney General to get involved in a cause like this, Mr. McMaster would beg to differ. “The Attorney General of the state is supposed to take a strong position on the side of the Constitution,“ he says. “A large percentage of cases are reversed. That means that the lower court was wrong. We think this lower court is wrong in this case.” He says that the plate dos not establish a religion and adds, “if someone wanted a Hindu plate or a Buddhist plate or any other kind, or a Muslim plate, they could get that. Just get somebody to introduce it, pass it. They have to have enough people to have ‘em printed. But I don’t consider that establishing a religion,“
Huh, really? How is the Attorney General of the state paying to defend the “I Believe” plates? How did the Attorney General pay to get to the “I Believe” rally to speak Tuesday night? If you guessed at the taxpayers expense, you would be correct.
Here is the kicker… If supporters cannot get the courts ruling overturned, they have a Plan B. They are going to rename a non-profit organization “I Believe” so that they can legally produce the plate in support of the non-profit. This is incredible. These asshats already have a legal option to produce these plates, but that’s not good enough. It’s become about proving, to anyone stuck in traffic I guess, that this is a Christian state and the state will produce these Christian license plates.
Some good news, however, is that Secular Humanists of the Low Country, a South Carolina Non-Profit organization has dealt with previous religiosity on our license plates. They responded to the “In God We Trust” slogan that appears on some state license plates with an “In Reason We Trust” Free Thought plate. This is a great option for secularists, atheists, free thinkers, and just reasonable people. These are available to anyone in the state.You do not have to be a member of the organization. Oh yeah, they were also produced legally using their non-profit status and didn’t cost taxpayers a dime.
To contact SC State Attorney General Henry McMaster to express your discontent (or support), you can contact him here:
The Honorable Henry McMaster
P.O. Box 11549
Columbia, S.C. 29211
info@scattorneygeneral.com
A South Carolina Atheist 