Kentucky’s men and women of the cloth are fully competent to speak about God. They really don’t need help from the governor and the state legislature.
The official Kentucky state motto is “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.” But that’s not the slogan that Gov. Steve Beshear is proposing for a new alternative license plate.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Beshear will push for legislation next year authorizing a special “In God We Trust” plate for vehicles in the Commonwealth.
“‘In God We Trust’ is essentially our national motto,” he said in an interview with the newspaper. “And that national motto belongs to every American and indeed every Kentuckian. In my opinion nobody should have to pay extra to have that national motto reflected on their license plate.”
Beshear told the Courier-Journal that he does not know how much it would cost the state to produce the plates. The cost, he said, would likely be covered through the fees vehicle owners are charged for their plates.
Beshear is off to a tough start in his role as governor. Elected in November 2007, he came into office facing a disastrous state budgetary shortfall, which he and the legislature struggled to deal with. His proposal to raise money by allowing casinos around the state failed, and his popularity is suffering as well.
It’s hard not to think that the governor has turned to “In God We Trust” in a fit of political desperation. Things aren’t going well in Frankfort, so he’s trying to divert attention to a little relatively cost-free project that is likely go over well in a religiously conservative state.
Whatever the reason, it’s a bad idea.
I’m a Kentucky native, so I know that the Commonwealth has an abundant supply of gifted clergy. Those men and women of the cloth are fully competent to speak about God. They really don’t need help from the governor and the state legislature.
As a matter of fact, it’s more than a little presumptuous. Does Beshear think Kentucky preachers’ voices are so weak that he needs to step in and lend them a hand? Are there any clergy out there who think its offensive or even a little blasphemous to enlist the name of God as a political device?
Many Christians support church-state separation, and they dislike government meddling in spiritual affairs.
Beshear is also governor of all the people, not just those who “trust in God.” Atheists, agnostics and those who believe in many gods are also taxpaying citizens. The Constitution gives the governor no authority over religion, and he ought not to presume that it does.
“In God We Trust” is, of course, one our national mottoes. (I think the other, E Pluribus Unum – out of many, one – is more appropriate for a diverse nation.) I don’t know whether the federal courts would see the proposed license plate as an unconstitutional government promotion of religion (it is, obviously) or just an example of relatively inoffensive “civil religion.” An ACLU lawsuit in Indiana against a similar license plate may give us the answer to that question.
At any rate, Gov. Beshear is off this week on a series of townhall meetings around the state to get ideas from Kentuckians about what their concerns are. I hope at least a few people tell him to knock it off with the religious license plates and get down to the public business of solving the state’s many problems.
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