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| Shawn Byrne's Statement of Faith |
The separation of church and state issue recently slithered into a new nook. This time the victimized Christian stood his ground,valiantly fought his way through the courts - and won!
As reported by the Associated Press, Shawn Byrne of West Rutland, VT requested a vanity license plate reading "JN36TN," which was a slightly cryptic reference to John 3:16. It's meaning was clear as a bell - and offensive - to the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, which rejected the application in 2004.
Byrne appealed the decision to a federal judge in Burlington who sided with the DMV. He then went even further to the three judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City. The court wrote Vermont's "law impermissibly restricts expression from a religious viewpoint and thus violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment."
Shawn can now display his faith on his automobile license plate. Considering the legal expenses, he now possesses one of the most expensive license plates in history.
We're supposed to believe the state was acting in good faith on behalf of its aggrieved citizens and that the funds spent by the Attorney General to fight the case in Burlington and Manhattan were justified. After all, scatalogical (a $50 word for obscene) topics, racial slurs, and references to illegal drugs or genitalia are also banned from plates. The state seems to think expressions of Christian faith are similar.
According to Annie Youderian of the Courthouse News Service, the state argued the purpose of the ban on religious license plates was to prevent the "distraction and disruption (that would) result from controversial speech and avoid giving the impression the state endorses such speech." To most people John 3:16 offers hope, but apparently the state thinks that to Vermonters they're fighting words. And the chances of anybody accusing the State of Vermont of endorsing Chrisitianity are remote.
You wonder what planet they're on when they come up with this stuff.
The state showed flexibility on occasion, allowing "GENESIS" to be used provided the driver said it didn't refer to the Bible but to Phil Collins's old rock band. As long as Christians could finesse their plates with double meanings and lie to the DMV about the intent they could be approved. One of the appeal judges observed that Byrne could have gotten the plate if he said his name was John, he's 36 and from Tennessee.
But he walked the walk, didn't lie and won a rare victory for his faith.
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Photo Credit: Burlington.com
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