Bauer battles pressure as he backs Christian license plate

By Jamie Underwood
Edited by Alex Riley

For Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, South Carolina's "I Believe" license plate is a freedom of speech issue. Groups favoring separation of church and state protested in May when the Legislature passed a law creating South Carolina's religious license plate.

Bauer said he was drawn to the proposal when his chief of staff Jim Miles came to him with the idea. Bauer says he thought that since the state already had 100 specialty plates "Wow, what an opportunity for Christians to be able to tag a license plate for themselves."

Bauer helped move the bill through the Legislature and has offered to pay the $4,000 required to get the license plates ready. Since the plates were made by a law and not created by a independent group, Bauer's offer to pay the upfront fee was not allowed by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Despite this setback, the Department of Motor Vehicles has managed to collect the required 400 paid requests needed to make an order.

The Carolina Reporter talked with Bauer about his professional and personal reasons for backing the license plate. Bauer's answers have been edited for space and clarity.

Q: What role have you played in getting the religious license plate bill to become law?

A: It's stunning to me that we can have a license plate on anything else, anything, even as controversial as the Confederate flag, ... but when you talk about the Christian faith someone is opposed to it. ... This isn't actually the state acknowledging anything.. ... In addition to the state's actual regular license plate, we have vanity plates. If you want to pay a fee, and if you like to have them on your car, that is up to you. ...

Our founding fathers, in my opinion, never thought that we would take it to this extreme. ... Do you know what's over the front of the Supreme Court when you walk in? Moses holding the Ten Commandments. That speaks volumes.

If we only allowed the Christian group to get one, then I would say that's not right. But I had said anyone. I had said if you were Wiccan, if you're Jewish, if you're Muslim, and you have an interest in getting a license plate, I will facilitate that.

Q: How have your personal beliefs affected your support for South Carolina's religious license plates?

A: I would have helped someone through the process no matter what license plate it was, whether I believed in it or not, because that's part of being an elected official. ... People call me with what they think ought to be the government's help and I facilitate it even though sometimes I don't think the government ought to be helping them. I'll still put them in the right direction and try to help them in my capacity as lieutenant governor. ...

Now because it's Christian faith, and I'm a Christian, I have been more vocal about it, especially because of the resistance. ... The state's not mandating anybody to put this on their car.

Q: Why is it important that South Carolinians be given the option to purchase an "I Believe" license plate?

A: I think the state has demonstrated through 103 license plates currently - this would make 104 - that we have allowed a broad range of folks with different interests to purchase license plates. ... You can be a supporter of Confederate veterans, you can be a supporter of any college under the sun - the colleges that aren't even in South Carolina.

Our forefathers, by virtue of them, you've got a trust on the dollar bill, what you see over the United States Supreme Court, if you take the Ten Commandments, almost all of them are laws. I mean, Judeo-Christian values help shape the fundamentals of most societies. Whether you believe in it or not, they help shape what we believe are right actions by our fellow neighbors.

So to say ... because of this church and state clause - we only use when we want to use it against Christians - we're not going to allow you the license plate ideas is ridiculous.

And so I think that we deny Christians the opportunity to get a license plate, we're not being respectful of that religion. Still, every poll I see says 70 to 80 percent of all U.S. citizens are Christians.

Q: Do you plan to purchase an "I Believe" license plate for your car?

A: I do. I plan to purchase it for my 1967 van. It was my granddaddy's - a man of faith who took me to church and shared some of my values, and so I'm going to put it on his van in his honor.

Q: What is your response to individuals or groups who protest South Carolina's religious license plate law?

A: I would ask that they be respectful. ... I think it's a freedom of speech issue. And so, because I feel like they have the opportunity to get whatever they want, why shouldn't I?

National group challenges S.C.'s religious license plate