{"id":13377,"date":"2009-01-08T07:52:47","date_gmt":"2009-01-08T14:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2009\/01\/08\/witnessing-bashing-and-licensing.html"},"modified":"2009-01-08T07:52:47","modified_gmt":"2009-01-08T14:52:47","slug":"witnessing_bashing_and_li","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/08\/witnessing_bashing_and_li.html","title":{"rendered":"Witnessing, bashing, and licensing"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Carolinian conservative Christian groups are up in arms<\/a> over the federal court injunction against the state’s “I Believe” license plate (previously discussed here<\/a>). The plate includes stained glass windows and a cross.<\/p>\n

\n

Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, who first introduced legislation allowing the plate, declared the need for a long-term grassroots campaign for its production, calling Christians the new “silent majority.”<\/p>\n

“There is free speech for every group in this state besides Christians,” Bauer said. “Every citizen has the right to free speech in this country. I don’t understand why witnessing in public is considered unconstitutional. You don’t even have to be a Christian to believe everyone deserves the freedom of speech.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nobody, of course, is denying Christians freedom of speech, even within the confine of cars. Bumper stickers, Jesus fish, license plate holders — any number of ways exist to “witness” to people stuck in traffic behind you. The distinction is that those are not official state “documents”<\/em> that you are witnessing through.<\/p>\n

\n

Church pastor Rev. Arnold Hiette warned it’s only the start of what could be a prolonged battle.<\/p>\n

“When God puts his people together to speak together for a cause, that speaks volumes,” said Hiette, who added that he only became interested in the license plates when he was told he would not be allowed to purchase one.<\/p>\n

“We put on our Gamecocks tags. We put on our Tiger tags,” Hiette said. “You don’t have to put a license plate on to confirm your faith. You need to live it every single day.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Precisely. You witness much more effectively through your actions than through putting on a license plate. So what’s the argument about?<\/p>\n

\n

“It doesn’t make sense to be restricted from witnessing your faith because you believe in the symbol that stands for Jesus’ death on the cross,” he continued.<\/p>\n

“It was OK to put ‘I Believe’ on a license plate. The thing that caused the firestorm was the cross. That cross represents our Lord and the sacrifice he made of his blood for us.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Which Rev. Hiette believes, and more power to him. Others believe something different — but Rev. Hiette would have an official state document (a license plate) make a religious statement that he agrees with, regardless of what other citizens of the state might believe.<\/p>\n

The problem here is that it’s not just a matter of “free speech” but a desire for “free right-thinking <\/em>speech” — i.e., Rev. Hiette is all in favor of symbols and words that are for a good cause, one he believes in strongly. But I suspect he would feel far differently about a Nazi plate with swastikas. Or, in religion, an Islamic plate with an inscription in Arabic and the moon-and-star symbol on it. Or an atheist plate with “I Disbelieve” at the top and an international “No” symbol over other religious logos as a picture. <\/p>\n

Those would be free speech, too — but I strongly doubt Rev. Hiette would support them. Indeed, public displays of “I Disbelieve” as a “witnessing” are just the sort of thing being protested as “Christian-bashing,” by just the same sort of Christians as the good Reverend. Why would we not consider an “I Believe” Christian plate to be “Atheist-bashing” or “Muslim-bashing” or “Hindu-bashing”?<\/p>\n

Now, if other faiths and deeply held ideologies were so allowed to have their own license plates authorized by the state legislature, that might indeed be different. But<\/a> …<\/p>\n

\n

This license plate was passed (unanimously) by the legislature. No other faith group was given the same opportunity, and it\u2019s quite certain that none will be. In fact, Bauer even said he would not support a Muslim plate, and State Sen. Yance McGill, who supported this \u201cChristian\u201d plate, indicated that he would not support a Wiccan tag.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not what I consider to be a religion,\u201d McGill told the Associated Press<\/a> back in May.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now who are the “second-class citizens”?<\/p>\n

Bauer does make one possibly valid point.<\/p>\n

He noted that even one Lowcountry secular group has its own license plate. It states “In Reason We Trust” and has been purchased by 104 S.C. residents. “When a secular group can get a license plate without anyone challenging them, but we as Christians can’t … enough is enough.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I agree that such plates<\/a> might open the door for “I Believe” — though they are a direct response to pre-existing South Carolina plates with “In God We Trust” on them. But neither sentiment rises to the declaration of sectarian religion that “I Believe” (with a cross and stained glass windows) does.<\/p>\n

\n

Red-faced and angry, shaking his fist alongside his Bible, Hiette told the congregation that the four complainants – especially the Unitarian – and one judge who took away the people’s right to witness via their vehicle tags “along with the ACLU, they’re going to burn in hell.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nice. Hiette might want to brush up on his Matthew (ch. 7)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1 <\/span>Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 <\/span>For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

(via Right Wing Watch<\/a>) <\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Carolinian conservative Christian groups are up in arms over the federal court injunction against the state’s “I Believe” license plate (previously discussed here). The plate includes stained glass windows…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10947,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/05\/09\/license_to_speak.html","url_meta":{"origin":13377,"position":0},"title":"License to speak","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 9-May-07 8:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A woman in South Dakota got a car license plate \"MPEACHW\", which was all fine and good until some pol at the DMV realized what it said and decided that...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132824,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/02\/10\/defining-who-is-a-true-christian-just-what-we-want-the-government-to-do.html","url_meta":{"origin":13377,"position":1},"title":"Defining Who Is A True Christian — just what we want the government to do!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 10-Feb-17 3:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump's promise to favor Christian refugees from majority-Muslim countries[1] carries with it an ironic challenge: figuring out who the Christians are. Is it enough to just claim to be Christian? Well, that's pretty crappy, security-wise. But if self-identification is not enough, what is? Testimony from other Christians? A signed letter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6047,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/06\/02\/eggs_in_one_bas.html","url_meta":{"origin":13377,"position":2},"title":"Eggs in one basket","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 2-Jun-04 10:00am","format":false,"excerpt":"Some conservative Christians are touting the idea of taking over their own state. ChristianExodus.org has been established to coordinate the move of 50,000 or more Christians to a single conservative...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13233,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/02\/10\/i_get_the_most_amusing_or.html","url_meta":{"origin":13377,"position":3},"title":"I get the most amusing (or irritating) emails","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Feb-09 1:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I've managed to get on a couple of, um, conservative email lists, so it's interesting to see what gets tossed over the transom. This one came Don Wildmon's AFA: A...","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/economy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37838,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/16\/religious-freedom-license-plates-and-a-twist.html","url_meta":{"origin":13377,"position":4},"title":"Religious freedom, license plates, and a twist","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 16-Jun-13 7:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Usually it's folks suing about explicitly Christian messages on state license plates. \u00a0In a culture that is overtly (and majority) Christian, that's not difficult to imagine.The twist in this case is that it's a Christian suing, saying that a Native American artwork used on Oklahoma's current plate has an clear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133532,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/24\/trumps-speech-on-islam-and-the-middle-east.html","url_meta":{"origin":13377,"position":5},"title":"Trump's speech on Islam and the Middle East","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 24-May-17 7:46am","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a few days old, but if you haven't actually read the official text of Trump's speech, it's worth doing so, for a number of reasons.1. An incessant, constant use of religious language. Good vs evil. Blessings. Sanctuary. Multiple times, Trump frames the War on Terrorism less as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}