I don’t know if you caught wind of this news story a couple of weeks ago, but a Florida state legislator wants to add this license plate design to the 109 specialty plates already available to Florida drivers. (No, really, I counted them) He also has several other similarly religious-themed choices he’d like to add.
As you would expect, there’s some opposition from some obvious parties, like the ACLU. They argue that a plate design like this means that the state might be compelled to make the same offer available to virtually any group, including hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and that might be a slippery slope they don’t want to find themselves on.
A similar agrument is being made by State Rep. Kelly Skidmore of Boca Raton, who says that as a Catholic she doesn’t want to see these plates approved because then the Jews might want them, too. How charming. This is the second time in just a few weeks where some Democratic state legislator has put her foot firmly in her mouth in the name of religious bigotry. Just goes to show that the Republicans don’t have a lock on stupidity and hate, I guess.
P.Z. Myers weighed in on this yesterday, pointing out that not only is this a case of the Christians expecting special treatment as “THE Only Religion”, but also asking how much flak do we think this would have caused if an atheist group had petitioned for an “I DON’T Believe” plate.
When enough people share a delusion, it loses its status as a psychosis and gets a religious tax exemption instead. – Ronald de Sousa
An update: the Florida Legislature has rejected this plate according to this blogger in Tallahassee