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This one comes to us from South Carolina where the state legislature approved a new license plate design available for purchase containing the words “I believe” and the image of a cross.
Yesterday, a federal judge in SC shot down the license plates, saying “The ‘I Believe’ Act’s primary effect is to promote a specific religion, Christianity”. But judge Cameron Currie didn’t stop there. She went on to say “Such a law amounts to state endorsement not only of religion in general, but of a specific sect in particular”. Her objection was not limited to the promotion of a specific religion, but of religion in general, which makes me wonder whether she would have permitted a plan to include license plates that featured a spread of religious symbols. Would a law that let residents of the Palmetto State choose a plate that reflected their individual beliefs meet the same fate?
Speculation aside, Judge Currie thought this law was egregious enough to warrant additional action, ordering the state to pay the legal costs of the people that brought the lawsuit.
