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

By Jamie Underwood
Edited by Monique Cunin

Should a federal lawsuit succeed, the controversial "I Believe" license plates, now on order for several hundred South Carolinians, may be short-lived.

Since June, four South Carolina clergy and the Hindu American Foundation have joined Americans United for Separation of Church and State's lawsuit to block South Carolina's new license plate law.

South Carolina has started taking orders for the new "I Believe" plate, which critics contend is distinctly Christian and violates the constitutional provision for keeping church and state separate.

Since the plates are being ordered and sold, no one can argue that the lawsuit contesting their constitutionality is premature, said Barry Lynn, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based church-state watchdog, Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The non-sectarian, non-partisan organization filed a federal lawsuit June 2 in response to a new state law allowing production of the "I Believe" license plates, which feature a gold cross inside a stained glass window.       

The Carolina Reporter caught up with Barry Lynn to discuss the lawsuit and how separation of church and state applies to South Carolina's "I Believe" license plate.

Q: Can you tell me about the federal lawsuit Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed in June in response to South Carolina's new law?

A: We filed this [lawsuit] on behalf a number of religious people and organizations, because they did feel that this was a grant of government preference to Christianity over all other faiths and beliefs. One cornerstone of American law is that governments don't take positions for or against religion in general. ... It would be ideal for us if none of these plates were stamped, none of them were made, that there was no campaign [that] continued to promote them.

Q: Does South Carolina's religious license plate law violate the First Amendment?

A: Clearly the state itself was involved in choosing to have created a specifically Christian plate. This is not some generic reference to God. It's a very specific, and obviously Christian, plate - that's what the cross and the stained glass window represent. Government has to be neutral on religious matters, not give preference to Christianity.  

Q: Is this a freedom of speech issue?

A: That's a total mischaracterization. The state is involved here. South Carolina cannot embrace or promote religion. A genuine free speech issue would be when those people, organizations - religious or otherwise - go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and get their special plates and don't involve anybody but themselves and the Department of Motor Vehicles. They do not go to the legislature. Those plates cannot have symbols. They can't have messages.

You couldn't go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and get a plate that says, "I don't believe in God." That's not permissible, because you can't have messages on those Department of Motor Vehicle plates. This one says "I Believe." It has a cross. It's clear what the driver of that car intends to convey with the help and blessing of government, and it's that help and blessing of government that creates the constitutional problem.

Q: If South Carolina's religious license plate law, passed by the General Assembly, deals primarily with Christianity, where does that leave other religions?

A: It makes [other religions] feel like they are second-class faiths in the state of South Carolina. Unlike other groups that can go seek a special license plate from the Department of Motor Vehicles, ... the legislature itself chose to initiate this campaign, a campaign that they've done for no one else - no other religious group. Several [other religions] have already joined our lawsuit. That's apparently what it will take, because the state does not appear to be interested in correcting this matter.

Q: Rev. Dr. Thomas A. Summers, a retired United Methodist Church minister from Columbia who joined the lawsuit, said South Carolina's religious license plate provokes discrimination. Do you think that is true?

A: When you have a Christian plate blessed by the state ... you do send an unmistakable message of preference for religion on the part of the state government. The lieutenant governor has been heavily involved in this himself. He is seen as a public figure in government, not just some fellow who happens to live in the state. He has credentials as a government official. He's heavily promoting this, ... [which adds] to the unconstitutional nature of this activity.

Q: Supporters argue that people who purchase South Carolina's "I Believe" license plate do so voluntarily. What is your response to that argument?

A: Long before the state decided to get into this business, people in South Carolina had bumper stickers about their church, about their faith, about their beliefs. They had decals and little magnetic fish representing Christianity. ... Most of us who are Christians, if we want to convey this idea to others using out car, we don't need the lieutenant governor to tell us how to do it.

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