If you think hate mail will slow down AU, think again.
Along with ensuring religious liberty, the First Amendment protects the freedom of speech. Thanks to the Internet, people can exercise their freedom of speech faster than ever, and Americans United heard from a bevy of them yesterday after we filed a lawsuit in South Carolina against the state’s new “I Believe” license plate.
The idea behind the lawsuit is simple: In America, all faiths enjoy the same privileges; the government may not show preference to one religion over all others. By designing, proposing, approving, producing and distributing specialty plates for Christians only, the state government of South Carolina has violated the Constitution.
The complaint was filed with the court at 10 a.m., and by noon AU’s mailbox was inundated with responses to our action. While certain members and supporters wrote in to commend us on a job well done, the majority of the e-mails were downright nasty – and some were even hilarious.
Riddles seemed to carry the day. One opponent of our lawsuit asked if “Berry” (I’d assume he was attempting to reference Barry W. Lynn) is “a synonme” (perhaps he meant synonym) for “antichrist.” Another asked: “Are you again Christianity?” We here at AU are certainly neither again nor against Christianity; we believe in equal treatment for all faiths (and non-faiths) and we believe in safeguarding religious freedom.
We also received the regular slew of e-mails telling us to “Go to Hell” or “get a life.” But a bunch wanted to save us from the fiery underworld and included Bible quotes and offers to pray for the staff.
Most people were just angry. One correspondent condemned Lynn, likened him to a slayer of prophets, asserted that Barry’s soul was sold to unbelievers, questioned his personal faith and then signed his e-mail under the salutation “respectfully.” That was a nice touch.
Another favorite was an e-mail telling all of us at “the ACLU” that we are worthless jerks. This however, was not the only factual inaccuracy that found its way to my inbox. One rather agitated young man exclaimed: “I believe that North Carolina [sic] can put whatever they damn well want on their license plates and I believe that you are all a bunch of maggot sucking gutter trash scum.” Another respondent informed us that any “organization” is entitled to “pay $4000 or get 400 orders. It’s equal for everyone.” Clearly had this reader looked into the facts of the case, he would have found that it was not a private organization, but the state, that created the “I Believe” fiasco.
The majority of e-mails we received were flooded with grammatical errors, spelling inaccuracies and a blatant disregard for the rules of Standard English. Inarticulate hate-mail is perhaps the least effective way to convince us of the merits of the argument coming from the other side.
Of all the e-mails, I will leave you with my favorite: “Barry, you look demonic. I suppose you are one of the main reasons that the Ten Commandments were taken out of schools. Where you don’t see God you do see evil. You are one of the reasons that kids are killing kids in schools. You don’t have to answer to me but you will have to answer to God one day. Demon.”
Spleen venting is protected under the First Amendment, and we certainly appreciate the laughs some of the more nonsensical e-mails bring. But I must inform my correspondents of a sobering fact: If you think hate mail will slow down AU, think again. It only spurs us on to work even harder in defense of the church-state wall.
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