Life as a Christian Woman

South Carolina is proposing a license plate that says, “I Believe” with a Christian cross and stained glass window on it. But not everyone is happy about it, including some Christians.

In fact, a group called Americans United for Separation of Church and State, based in Washington, D.C., has filed suit in Federal Court to stop the plate from seeing the light of day. The suit was filed on behalf of two Christian pastors, a humanist pastor, a rabbi, and the Hindu American Foundation.

Retired Methodist minister Rev. Thomas Summers, who has joined the lawsuit, believes that the plate provokes discrimination.

“I think this license plate really is divisive and creates the type of religious discord I’ve devoted my life to healing,” according to Summers.

Rev. Robert Knight feels the plate “cheapens” Christianity. “As an evangelical Christian, I don’t think civil religion enhances the Christian religion. It compromises it,” Knight said. “That’s the fundamental irony. It’s very shallow from a Christian standpoint.”

This has created a firestorm in South Carolina. Some decry “bumper theology” while others believe this is a blow for Christians against those who have sought to remove God from virtually every area of life.

The case is based on the fact that the bill is moving through the state house. However, in South Carolina, any group can create a specialty plate, as long as they have 400 prepaid orders, or collect a $4,000 deposit.

My opinion? Drop the bill and I guarantee the churches in the state will come up with the money. What will those who are so offended by the license plate do then? Demand a repeal of the state law?

Probably.

What I don’t get is the high and mighty attitude of the theologians in the AUSCS who are so violently against the plates. No, I don’t think that having a Christian license plate is going to save the world, but if a Christian wants to have one, who cares? How can this plate be offensive?

The real problem I have here is that free speech seems to apply more and more to others, and less and less to Christians. When I read headlines from around the world about the persecution of those who merely want to meet in fellowship, I can hardly believe it. But now those headlines are coming from western Europe, England, Australia. Preachers in parts of London are being warned that their sermons and outreach can be construed as a hate crime.

So what was once unthinkable is now becoming reality, right here in our own backyards.

I guess I sound like an alarmist. I don’t mean to be. But I do think that our rights are being taken away without so much as a whimper. And when we do speak up, we are branded “fundamentalists.”

No, folks, we are just Christians.