Georgia Lawmakers Want to Give Everyone ‘In God We Trust’ License Plate Stickers for Free

The state of Georgia cannot figure out what to do with the phrase “In God We Trust” when it comes to cars.

First, they wanted people to vote on the state’s new license plates… but they “accidentally” tagged certain plates with the IGWT phrase.

Because of that mistake, they conducted a revote.

Then, State Sen. Bill Heath (R-Bremen) tried to make “In God We Trust” a permanent fixture on every license plate.

Through all of this, stickers with the phrase could be purchased (legally) for $1. You could slap them on your license plate and no one would care. In fact, the state sold $339,186 worth of those last year. (Makes you weep for humanity, I know.)

That brings us to the present.

The state senate just voted 48-3 in favor of offering those “In God We Trust” stickers for free to everybody who wants one. (Because what state needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue when its representatives can preach their faith for free?!)

Car owners could get “In God We Trust” stickers free of charge under a bill passed Tuesday by the state Senate, which adopted the measure after initial plans to make the motto mandatory on all Georgia license plates fell short in committee.

It’s like they want a lawsuit to come their way…

It’s not too late to change this. The National Atheist Party is asking everyone to sign a petition against the bill. They’re also asking Georgia residents to contact their state representatives and express their disapproval.

(Thanks to Jon for the link!)

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Gordon Duffy

I suppose if they go ahead with it the solution is to keep ordering them over and over so they see what a waste of money it is.
Iosue

It always strikes me as odd that so many people are so insecure about their own faith they feel the need to foist it on everyone else. They so desperately want everyone to conform to their own narrow superstitions. It’s cowardly. But then again, these imbiciles were elected into office…
Tristan Lane

The Georgia Legislature is also trying to get the Ten Commandment posted in all public facilities of the State. The Commandments are included in what they call the “Foundations of American Law and Government Display” which has nine other documents to make the Ten Commandments look like they actually had something to do with the foundation of America.

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-bill-calls-for-1366416.html

Link to HB 766:
http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20112012/HB/766
Anonymous

Here is my issue: who’s paying for this? Of course the taxpayer! But i am hearing all of these states crying broke. What gives?
Bevidence

I live in Ga and I don’t see the Bible belt changing any time soon. Blame it on the education system, the years of only white & black culture with their “old south thinking” & religious indoctrination. “No room for outside thinking down here in these parts” ~ Sheeple [sigh]
Annie

Yes, and who is paying for the lawmakers to sit around and discuss such ridiculous things? The $339,186 is just a drop in the bucket compared to the salaries, buildings, etc. that are being funded by tax payers so the GA congress can pretend to be productive.
Felicity Kusinitz

The petition appears to be outdated; it’s written as if the phrase would be mandatory on all plates. Also, it misspells “deity” as “diety” throughout.
rhodent

It amazes me that the courts continue to maintain the fiction that “In God We Trust” is some sort of “ceremonial deism” when it’s always Christians trying to promote its use. I hope I live to see the day that they finally open their collective eyes on this point, but that won’t happen until the likes of Scalia and Roberts are off the SCOTUS.
Matto the Hun

Guys, you have to understand, forcing God on everyone is really, really, really, important.

If almighty God sees how much the state of GA is devoted to him and how we keep the unbelievers under heal then he will use his God-Magic to fix everything and Jesus will come back and beat Obama in 2012! AMEN!
Matto the Hun

I somehow doubt they would care how much of a waste of money it is. Pushing God on everyone is the most biggest, importantest thing ever!
Matto the Hun

I’ve often thought the same thing. However, lately I’m wondering if it’s not so much insecurity as it is the totalitarian nature of Christianity.
Annie

I wonder what would happen if an atheist organization tried to push in a southern state to have “In Go We Trust” put on something random, like a license plate? It would be fun to see the scramble… their beloved motto supported by their most hated enemy… what would they do?
Longstreet63

Sorry, but giving it away free is legal. At least, that was the court’s decision when this exact issue came up in Indiana. As long as it isn’t a requirement to have it on your plate, it’s legal.

On the plus side, they are often known here as ‘Idiot plates’ which provide a useful warning about the driver of the car bearing them: “Watch out for me, I don’t think other people are real and drive accordingly.”

Hopefully, though, another suit will make that ceremonial deism fig leaf go away. Everyone everywhere knows, I think, that the only reason ‘certain persons’ are trying to plaster the country with a phrase best associated with cash is that it is a ‘legal’ way to establish religion–or, more importantly, deliver a big FU to atheists, along with a ‘nyah-nyah, it’s legal.’
Abram Larson

As much as I think this is an idiotic waste of money and should be against the law, the fact remains that “In God We Trust” is officially the national motto of the USA. Putting the national motto on a license plate surely can’t be illegal, nor is including it on public grounds or putting it on our money. Until the national motto is changed (and I think it should be), we really don’t have any legal standing to object to these sorts of things.
Marguerite

I tend to agree with this. After 9/11, our Virginia school system put up “In God We Trust” signs in every school. Even though I was still Lutheran at the time, they made me cringe. But I suspected that complaining about it would be fruitless, because after all, it is the national motto. The bigger problem here is that those words remain the official motto of the USA. Surely it’s time to change that.
Justin

Why try and force it on everyone when you can raise revenue from the willing? That’s not bad policy, that’s bad governing.
Ben

As long as it’s on our money, there’s no way to really complain about it. If it’s legal there, why not elsewhere? However, as this motto spreads, and gets used more and more as a Christian battlecry, the more likely it is the courts will reconsider their position.
walkamungus

I can’t believe a state is willing to give up almost $340K in annual revenue.
Anonymous

Georgia is now going through the same thing I witnessed in Florida a few years ago: Republicans have a complete lock on state offices and dominate the legislature. They came in promising to fix everything with more git-toughery and lower taxes that would magically produce more money. That hasn’t happened, but there’s no one in power to blame but themselves; so now they’re desperately trying to distract people from their practical failure with a kaleidoscope of irrelevant but emotionally powerful issues: overt religiosity, xenophobia, gay-bashing, Birtherism, etc.
Anonymous-Sam

In Goodness We Trust is something I could vote for.
Iota

Could be both.
T-Rex

Unfortunately, Congress already confirmed it as our national motto just last year when they had nothing better to do. It didn’t matter the government was on brink of shutting down. Ass hats.
Marguerite

Someday I would like to sit down with an arch-conservative and have him or her explain to me exactly what the Ten Commandments have to do with the Constitution. I can’t see much influence, and in fact some of the commandments (such as “having no other God before me”) are actively anti-Constitutional.
Yabbadabbado

” In Godzilla We Trust”
Ida Know

And yet if I put a sticker on MY car that expressed MY (non-) religious views, MY car would be keyed or the tires slashed, or possibly something even nastier. So in effect, *they’re* free to show their views (with full enablement from the freaking *government*), but I’m not free to show mine.

Must be nice.
Chak 47

Am I the only one who voted over and over for plate 4? I just love how it looks like a horse’s ass. And since the sticker goes at the bottom, it looks like the horse pooped it out. 🙂
Chris

Would this include public schools?
I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
Bu_sd

I better go get one of these before Atheists ruin a nice free thing.
Friendly atheists my ass. More like butthurt militant atheists.
Bikermike

Why is it when a person wears clothing or emblems on personal property that promotes designer fashion names or illegal substances or dangerous harmful things, they are “representin”; but if they put an expression of their faith in a higher power out front, they are forcing something on the public? If you are free, so am I.
If you don’t agree; you are free to focus your attention on something else. I know I choose to every day. In this day and time, expressing faith is far from cowardly.