The new "I Believe" Florida license plate.
Posted on 04/14/2008 4:44:09 PM PDT by Libloather
Lawmaker wants 'I believe' license plates
Posted on Fri, Apr. 11, 2008
BY GARY FINEOUT
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com
The new "I Believe" Florida license plate.
TALLAHASSEE -- Honk if you love Jesus. It might become more than just a bumper sticker in Florida.
The Florida Legislature may create a new license plate that features the words ''I Believe'' and the image of a cross in front of a church stained glass window. The measure is moving in both the House and Senate.
Rep. Ed Bullard, a Miami Democrat and a sponsor of the license plate, conceded that ''some people'' may find something wrong with it, but he said it was a license plate for those people who may want something other than a plate that has a manatee or picture of the Challenger space shuttle.
''That segment is a large segment of the population that can now get a tag that they like and express their beliefs,'' said Bullard.
Sen. Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican who is sponsoring a measure that would create four different plates, including a ''In God We Trust'' plate, said he saw no problem with letting motorists decide if they want to pay the $25 extra for the ''I Believe'' plate.
''That's that the option of every driver who owns a vehicle,'' said Fasano. ``They can decide if they want to have a license plate with a cross in front of a stained-glass window. It's not different from choosing a Choose Life license plate or a manatee license pate or a Florida State University or University of Florida license plate.''
Florida has dozens of license plates that include images of sports teams, animals, wildflowers. The Republican-led Legislature in 1999 also authorized a license plate with the words ''Choose Life'' on it that drew lawsuits from groups that said the plate conveyed a religious message.
The extra money earned from the sale of the ''I Believe'' license plate would go to an Orlando based non profit called Faith in Teaching Inc. that says on its website that money from the plates would be used for grants to ``continue faith based education for the youth of Florida.''
Well as long as Congress is not involved it might happen.
I wish we could go back to the days when Florida plates just said "The Sunshine State", and PA plates said "The Keystone State", and Illinois plates said "Land of Lincoln", etc.
Flame away.
I LOVE this! Barry Lynn’s head will explode when this passes.
The “Choose Life” plates look like were done in MS Paint. Awful.
If one has a thought or belief, put it on a bumper sticker.
No flames from me. I agree. I think it hampers law enforcement when you can’t look at a tag and easily recognize the state that issued it. There are so many different tags in Florida now that it can take two looks and several seconds to know if it’s a Florida tag or not.
This is one of those things that have just gotten out of hand over the years.
(Oddly, the Hoosier state's new plates look eerily like the "God" plates... to try to hide their popularity, maybe?)
The actual colors are even closer in hue.
Its a TAX sticker, dressing it up is just another deflection, from that fact.
"SECTION 3. Religious freedom.-- There shall be no law respecting the establishment of religion ..."
"SECTION 3. Religious freedom.-- There shall be no law respecting the establishment of religion ..."
So at first, I definitely misread it as “I want to believe” and I clicked on this thread thinking it would be about the coolest license plates ever...
Now that they have done this will they refuse to print plates saying “Allah Akbar” or “Jihad - I Believe”?
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