{"id":3662,"date":"2009-11-12T22:25:42","date_gmt":"2009-11-12T22:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/11\/judge-bars-christian-license-plates.html"},"modified":"2009-11-12T22:25:42","modified_gmt":"2009-11-12T22:25:42","slug":"judge-bars-christian-license-plates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/11\/judge-bars-christian-license-plates.html","title":{"rendered":"Judge bars Christian license plate"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nA religious license plate won’t be popping up on cars in South Carolina any time soon.<\/p>\n

From the New York Times:<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nA United States District Judge has struck down a Christian-themed license plate that had been approved by the South Carolina Legislature, reports the BBC.<\/p>\n

Judge Cameron Currie ruled that the plate was a violation of the First Amendment, which prohibits Congress from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion.” The South Carolina plate featured an image of a cross in front of a stained-glass window, accompanied by the words “I Believe.”<\/p>\n

“Whether motivated by sincerely held Christian beliefs or an effort to purchase political capital with religious coin, the result is the same,” Judge Currie wrote in her decision. “The statute is clearly unconstitutional and defense of its implementation has embroiled the state in unnecessary (and expensive) litigation.”<\/p>\n

The license plate was approved by South Carolina lawmakers last year, and according to The Associated Press, Judge Currie singled out Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in her ruling. And she ordered the state to cover the legal expense of groups that battled against the plate’s approval, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.<\/p>\n

“Some officials seem to want to use religion as a political football,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. He called the plate an “appalling misuse of governmental authority, and I am thrilled that the judge put a stop to it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A religious license plate won’t be popping up on cars in South Carolina any time soon. From the New York Times: A United States District Judge has struck down a Christian-themed license plate that had been approved by the South Carolina Legislature, reports the BBC. Judge Cameron Currie ruled that the plate was a violation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-that"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge bars Christian license plate - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/11\/judge-bars-christian-license-plates.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge bars Christian license plate - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A religious license plate won’t be popping up on cars in South Carolina any time soon. 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