Posted on 05/16/2005 12:23:19 PM PDT by Irontank
A Tacoma woman says she feels violated by a complaint about her vanity plate. It simply reads: "John 3-16"
But someone found the Bible verse offensive and now the state is deciding whether she can keep the plate.
"The verse in the Bible says 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,' " says Jane Milhans.
To her, John 3:16 is a message of love, and a great vanity plate. But now, someone has told the state Jane's plate is offensive.
"My first reaction was I was in shock," she said.
Jane says she's had the plate for 21 years without a single complaint.
"It's not profane, it's not bigotry, it's not hatred, it's not evil," she says.
But Brad Benfield with the State Department of Licensing said, "It appears from the complaint that somebody was not happy that a state issued license plate had a religious component."
A Pierce County woman made the complaint, which reads in part: "I was offended that I have to be 'prayed over' by a license plate... What happened to keeping church and state separate?"
We tracked down the woman who lodged the complaint, and she declined an on-camera interview. She says frankly, she's dismayed the state didn't keep her complaint anonymous.
"A lot of people view this as a waste tax dollars to go through this process," Milhans said.
Now Jane says she'll have to defend her plate in front of a review committee, who will decide if she can keep it.
Benfield admits just one complaint can trigger a review.
"We're always interested in finding out if one slipped through the cracks," he said.
They caught one last year. "GOT MILF" was thought to be a play on the milk commercials. It turned out to be a sexual reference to good looking moms.
The state cancelled the plate.
But Jane Milhans vows they won't cancel hers.
"I will defend to keep it based on free speech," she said.
She says she'll fight to spread her message of love.
Last year, the state handled complaints about 16 vanity plates. They canceled four of them.
We should find out next month if Jane can keep hers.
Anyone offended by that, no matter what their belief system, needs to seriously examine themselves.
If she was offended by the plate, she should be required to testify at the hearing as to what rights of hers were violated by the plate, and why she should have the right/power to restrict what another taxpayer can have on a vanity plate that the taxpayer paid extra taxes to have. If she cannot be bothered to testify at the hearing, then her complaint should be dismissed and the plate renewed.
Since when does she "have to be 'prayed over' by a license plate". She doesn't have to do anything except go on her merry way and ignore it.
Assuming this person is a far leftist, then the far left is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Please God, let Howard Dean and his ilk keep up the "blame America first/I hate Christians/think everyone in flyover country is a moron" strategy.
Got MILF? Good looking moms? I thought it referred to that Phillippine Marxist Revolutionary group!
Oh puh-lease
Shouldn't the state instead be deciding whether the "offended" party should be thrown out of the state?
I'm sick of all this "offended" B.S.!!!!!! I'm offended by hearing the F word in public, I'm offended by Howard Dean, I'm offended by athiests trying to tear down the fabric of our country...and on and on and on. But so what? People have a right to their opinions even if I don't like them. THAT'S LIFE!
Oh boy, one of those people that just go around waiting to be offended by something. I think they need to publish her name, home phone, and address so everyone can let her know how much she offended them by bringing up this complaint.
Don't you just love the "TOLERANCE" from these idiots? For all the preaching they (the looney left) do on tolerance, they are the most intolerant people I've ever experienced.
I agree. Going through this process is a waste of tax dollars, and, I think people should be able to put whatever they want on their lisence plates. I would prefer, of course, that no one chose that tacky route -- but who am I to say. I don't think this is a case of the state endorsing religion. To say so is crazy.
"A Pierce County woman made the complaint, which reads in part: "I was offended that I have to be 'prayed over' by a license plate... What happened to keeping church and state separate?" "
You ass. Never mind the "separation" BS, that's another issue. This is this PRIVATE WOMAN'S choice.
lol ..... I about snorted coffe out my nose when that scrolled up onto my screen!
I once had the letters to spell Jesus on a Scrabble rack.
Two questions for this leftist troll:
Where in the Constitution does it say that there must be separation of church and state?
How would what someone has on their personalized license plate even come close to violating the nonexistant church-state separation law in the first place?
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