A woman from New Jersey recently filed a court case against the state, after she was refused a vanity plate that read 8THEIST, but being allowed one that reads BAPTIST. Shannon Morgan, a resident of Leesburg, won the right to sue New Jersey at a local district court last month, despite her having initiated the procedure in 2013, when she was told by the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission that her suggestion for a license plate that reads 8THEIST is objectionable.
A district court ruled last month that Morgan does in fact have the right to sue the Motor Vehicle Commission over her license plate even though the state agency had said earlier that Morgan could not do so, as her license plate would have been approved had she submitted her application via mail.
According to Morgan’s lawyer, the Motor Vehicle Commission is yet to modify its policy concerning the submission of nonreligious vanity plates through its online forum.
“We're thrilled with the decision,” Jon Green, Morgan's attorney, said in a statement regarding the court ruling. “We're saying its censorship of viewpoint and Judge Wolfson basically said you can't do that.”
With regards to such issues where both believers and nonbelievers claim discrimination, Christian apologists believe that, while atheists continue to allege that their First Amendment rights are often trampled by those who identify as religious people, it is in fact atheists that need to adopt a less aggressive approach in displaying their nonreligious lifestyles.
Ardent Christian and public speaker Mark Mittelberg said the aggressive nature of atheists like evolutionist Richard Dawkins keeps Christians from finding a middle ground with nonbelievers.
“I would venture to guess that the advice Richard Dawkins gave to atheists at the 'Reason Rally' — to ridicule and mock religious people in public — is not the best way for them to become a more highly loved group of people!” said Mittelberg. “What a contrast to the Apostle Peter, who told us, as Christians, to speak to people 'with gentleness and respect' (1 Peter 3:15). And, of course, Jesus told us to 'turn the other cheek' and to love our enemies.”
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