Christian sues Okla. over Native American liscense plate

[Mama Mia]

Two questions, then:

(1) Does Oklahoma have a variety of "alternative" plates like most other states do nowadays? If so, can't he just order one of those?

(2) How does this guy (or fundies generally I guess) feel about the "In God We Trust" plates in Indiana?

...the Indiana plates are just one of a variety of designs you can get, but they are very popular at least among Indana residents who come over to drive around in Illinois for whatever reason.

Meanwhile I hate Illinois' standard plates (with Lincoln - I just don't like the cursive, I preferred the old plain plates) but Illinois has tons of alternative designs you can choose from.

The alternative plates are $37 more. The title of the sculpture is "Sacred Rain Arrow". I don't think it is reasonable for a state to only offer a religious plate without an extra charge. (any religion) . If they offered a range of alternates for the same price, fine, but I'm sure people would object if the standard plate had a picture of a cross or any other religious symbol. Representing different religious art in public, in my opinion, is fine, but not when it is mandatory.

[Mela99]

When creches are displayed on public land, Christians don't object. When the 10 Commandments are posted in pubic places, Christians say they're "historical" and not religious.

Hypocrites.

Nuh-uh, Christians are just EXEMPT, bc everybody knows Jesus is the only exception. :roll:

[gustava]

Nuh-uh, Christians are just EXEMPT, bc everybody knows Jesus is the only exception. :roll:

My bad :angelic-green: :angelic-green:

[Boogalou]

The alternative plates are $37 more. The title of the sculpture is "Sacred Rain Arrow". I don't think it is reasonable for a state to only offer a religious plate without an extra charge. (any religion) . If they offered a range of alternates for the same price, fine, but I'm sure people would object if the standard plate had a picture of a cross or any other religious symbol. Representing different religious art in public, in my opinion, is fine, but not when it is mandatory.

I agree with this. While the statue isn't obviously religious, from just looking at it, the story behind it is religious. However, I think it's possible, if not probable, that there is some racism behind this person's complaint. I also agree with the other poster that said that this could raise some interesting questions about the separation of church and state. Is this guy going to sue the federal government next for putting "In God we trust" on the money??

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Ah. I don't drive so don't know much about the charge for plates - I knew you pay extra (in Illinois) for your favorite custom number, but didn't know about the charges for the different backgrounds. For some reason around here getting a four-digit number (only!) custom plate is a "rich" thing to do, not sure what's up with that...

FWIW I kinda miss the old "single color letters stamped into a single color background" boring plates.

[DistantStar]

I know I pay a bit extra here in Idaho for my vanity plate which is the regular plate plus what I wanted, but I'd have to check to see if there's an extra charge for any of the other types; there's a whole bunch of them, but I'm having no luck with a quick Google. I know I paid a bit extra in Maryland several years ago for the pretty Chesapeake Bay-theme plates but didn't get them customized past that. I'm guessing there's an extra charge for anything but the standard plate pretty much in all the states as it's easy $$ for the coffers. The one I don't know why anybody gets here is the one with the actual baked potato with butter picture on it, unless they get it as a joke or something, or are actual potato farmers, or both.

I like the plate this jerk is bitching about. I would get it if I had to live in Oklahoma. (Note: as I keep ending up in "red states" my reasons for not wanting to live there are as much geographical and climate-related as anything else. I like winter and the mild summers you get at 5800 feet in the high desert up here. The distinct lack of tornadic storms is a definite plus, as I lived in places prone to those for most of my life as well. No insult intended to any FJer Oklahoma folks.)

And of course he's not, Boogalou, he thinks the money thing refers to his fundie God. Silly! This liberal Christian would love to see that bit of silliness (eta because I though it was added in the 50s the way God was added to the Pledge) gone, but don't anticipate it actually happening like, ever, as the fundies and fundie-lights would raise a huge fuss over "taking God off of our money" or some such bullshit. Because this is a Christian country, doncha know that? :rolleyes:

[Mama Mia]

I agree with this. While the statue isn't obviously religious, from just looking at it, the story behind it is religious. However, I think it's possible, if not probable, that there is some racism behind this person's complaint. I also agree with the other poster that said that this could raise some interesting questions about the separation of church and state. Is this guy going to sue the federal government next for putting "In God we trust" on the money??

No, of course he won't, because it suits his own particular belief system. But which individual sues for what particular mandatory religious inclusion is irrelevant. Because every suit brings up the larger question of separation of church and state. Sometimes it will come up on facebook that people are freaking out about not including the "Under God" portion of the Pledge of Alliegence", what I always try to point out is that as a Christian I would not want to have to say one nation "Under Allah", so why would I want someone else to have to say under God ? ( yeah, I know, the 'under Allah' is not the best example - because it's just another word for God, but it's the comparison people seem to be able to understand )

[gardenvarietycitizen]

With the pledge there's an easy out - the original version didn't have the "under God" line in it, so just remain silent for that line (and if people pick a fight with you over that, well, you know where they stand).

I have a bigger beef with forced saying of the pledge in schools, namely that public schools often have foreign kids in them and it's not proper to "require" them to pledge allegiance to your country's flag. Why on earth should they?

Amazingly though, often when I bring that up, I'm met with amazement that there can possibly be legally resident foreign citizen expat kids in US public schools. Blows my mind that people don't find this obvious, but...

[Mama Mia]

With the pledge there's an easy out - the original version didn't have the "under God" line in it, so just remain silent for that line (and if people pick a fight with you over that, well, you know where they stand).

I have a bigger beef with forced saying of the pledge in schools, namely that public schools often have foreign kids in them and it's not proper to "require" them to pledge allegiance to your country's flag. Why on earth should they?

Amazingly though, often when I bring that up, I'm met with amazement that there can possibly be legally resident foreign citizen expat kids in US public schools. Blows my mind that people don't find this obvious, but...

Yeah, it's funny how many people aren't aware that "Under God" was added later. When I was in 6th grade we were supposed to write an essay about the pledge .. being the rebel that I was I wrote about why didn't we pledge to the sink instead of a piece of cloth because it was an inanimate object anyway. Of course I think my rant might have been slightly influenced by a crush I had on a Jehovah's Witness boy in the class..... :whistle:

[JesusFightClub]

With the pledge there's an easy out - the original version didn't have the "under God" line in it, so just remain silent for that line (and if people pick a fight with you over that, well, you know where they stand).

I have a bigger beef with forced saying of the pledge in schools, namely that public schools often have foreign kids in them and it's not proper to "require" them to pledge allegiance to your country's flag. Why on earth should they?

Amazingly though, often when I bring that up, I'm met with amazement that there can possibly be legally resident foreign citizen expat kids in US public schools. Blows my mind that people don't find this obvious, but...

This is a very troublesome thing. I would not be happy pledging allegiance to any flag for the reason that, well, it's a bit of cloth. There are bits of cloth I respect more than others, but that is for what they stand for, not for themselves.

What do you think about respect for the flag in Japanese schools? When I taught in Japan, at assembly and before sports days, people bowed to the flag. (The kids and some teachers sang Kimi ga yo too.) I didn't mind this much (although I didn't sing).

There were some teachers who wouldn't bow and wouldn't sing and the other teachers glared at them. The history teacher was a fervent nationalist and quite a good singer, so you could hear his voice booming out over the others. A young teacher who was a friend of mine didn't do either but she wouldn't talk about why not.