Friday, August 11, 2006

we're all theists now

tdw links to an indy star article about indiana's new "in god we trust" license plates. a lot of christians seem excited by the new plates, but some people argue (and i'm inclined to agree) that the plates violate the separation of church and state. what's more offensive is that, unlike the dozens of other kinds of specialty license plates indiana offers, the "in god we trust" plates will be offered free of charge.

woody burton isn't convinced there's a problem (emphasis mine):

"With all due respect, I think this is a much better license plate than the ones we've had for so long," said state Rep. Woody Burton, R-Greenwood, who authored the legislation passed in the last session that created the plate.

The plate stirred questions about the separation of church and state, but Burton discounted those concerns.

"This is just a symbol to give people their free right to express their opinion," he said. "There are always going to be people who don't like it.

"In some way or another, we all worship one God, but we may use different names," Burton added. "This was not for one particular religious group."

"we all worship one god"? i guess that's true for theists: christians, jews, muslims, and followers of the great spaghetti monster all only worship one god. but what about buddhists? atheists? hindus? wiccans? freethinkers? subgenii? discordians?

it is glaringly obvious that these plates are intended for one particular religious group: theists. theists happen to be a large majority in indiana, but there are lots of non-theists in the state as well... tens if not hundreds of thousands of them. i'm not a theist, and i know lots of other non-theist hoosiers.

woody burton is full of it. and while i agree that the plate itself doesn't look too shabby (especially compared to previous indiana plates), i don't like it. however, if the state decides to also start offering plates that say "there is no god", i'll stop complaining. (i don't know if i'd get one, though; it'd probably get me assaulted if i drove in the wrong areas.)

3 comments:

Doug said...

I'd settle for an "In Dobbs We Trust" plate.

Anonymous said...

i've always thought that they should re-tool our printed money to get rid of that pesky slogan as well.

and i want a "jah pastafari" plate here in nc!

Anonymous said...

if I wanted my religious affilation on my car I would get an ikthos (SP?) fish.....