Methodist minister challenges Oklahoma license plate

[Somerville]

What some folks see as religious suppression or discrimination - others just go "Huh? What is your problem, man?"

Methodist minister challenges Oklahoma license plate

When Oklahoma looked to redesign its license plate five years ago, the iconic image of a young Apache warrior shooting an arrow skyward depicted in Allen Houser's "Sacred Rain Arrow" statue was a clear choice of a public that looked at more than 40 designs that featured Native American art, cowboy images and western and wildlife themes.

Tourism officials hailed the license plate as a traveling billboard for Oklahoma, and the image was deemed the best license plate in the nation in 2009 by the American License Plate Collectors Association.

But a Methodist minister claims the plate is an affront to his Christian beliefs, and a federal appeals court ruled last week that the minister's case can proceed.

Read more: Methodist minister challenges Oklahoma license plate | Fox News

The license plate




more from Raw Story

Greg Lipper, senior litigation counsel at the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, pointed out, the law in this regard is actually quite clear. The 1977 Supreme Court decision, Wooley vs. Maynard, ruled that New Hampshire could not require its residents to display the slogan “Live free or die” on its license plates if they found it “repugnant to their moral, religious, and political beliefs.”

“The separation of church and state benefits people who are religious as much as it benefits people who have no religion,” Lipper told Raw Story.
<snip>
“The next time it happens it might be a different religion that they don’t agree with,” Lipper said, such as Christians in a California school who are suing over yoga classes. “It’s interesting that Christians are now invoking the separation of church and state.”

[Sample Oklahoma license plate courtesy Allan Houser press release]

 

[RabidAlpaca]

Haha, it's only cool when white christians are plastered over everything. Classic.

 

[Wiseone]

But why no problem with:

Why no problem?

 

[digsbe]

1 minister proceeding with a lawsuit... This needs to be put into context instead of applying it to all Christians or thinking the idea of 1 minister reflects the majority.

Personally I think people should be allowed to have anything they want that isn't obscene on their license plate. You have freedom of speech and religion, not freedom to not be offended where many people think things that offend their religious beliefs/ideas means that there is a separation of church and state issue.

 

[Deuce]

1 minister proceeding with a lawsuit... This needs to be put into context instead of applying it to all Christians or thinking the idea of 1 minister reflects the majority.

Personally I think people should be allowed to have anything they want that isn't obscene on their license plate. You have freedom of speech and religion, not freedom to not be offended where many people think things that offend their religious beliefs/ideas means that there is a separation of church and state issue.

Why, it's almost as if an entire religion should not be judged based on the actions of a small number of its followers!