{"id":112076,"date":"2021-06-23T12:32:05","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T17:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=112076"},"modified":"2021-06-23T12:32:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T17:32:08","slug":"lawsuit-filed-over-mississippis-in-god-we-trust-automobile-tag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/lawsuit-filed-over-mississippis-in-god-we-trust-automobile-tag\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit Filed Over Mississippi\u2019s &#8220;In God We Trust&#8221; Automobile Tag"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Tuesday, June 22, 2021, <strong>American Atheists<\/strong>, the <strong>Mississippi Humanist Association<\/strong>, and three nonreligious Mississippi residents filed a federal lawsuit against <strong>Mississippi <\/strong>over the state\u2019s \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d automobile license plate.\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atheists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210622-COMPLAINT.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">The complaint<\/a>\u00a0accuses the <strong>Mississippi Commissioner of Revenue<\/strong> of violating the people\u2019s freedom of speech and religion by forcing them to display this religious message on their personal vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Mississippi license plate has included \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d since 2019. The lawsuit claims that car owners are forced to promote this religious statement or pay an additional fee for a specialty plate without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEvery minute they spend on the streets of Mississippi, atheists are forced to act as a billboard for the state\u2019s religious message,\u201d said <strong>Geoffrey T. Blackwell<\/strong>, litigation counsel at American Atheists. \u201cSome can avoid being a mouthpiece for the government by paying a penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAmericanAtheists%2Fposts%2F10159355764192418&#038;show_text=true&#038;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"653\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>The lawsuit also claims that there are no alternatives to the \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d plate for trailers, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, drivers with disabilities and custom plates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor years, I had a personalized license plate message on the old blues guitar design,\u201d said American Atheists\u2019 Mississippi Assistant State Director for Gulfport <strong>Sarah Worrel<\/strong>. \u201cIn 2019, when \u2018In God We Trust\u2019 became the new standard plate, I was forced to either give up my chosen message or display it alongside the Mississippi government\u2019s religious statement. I shouldn\u2019t have to make that choice. The government shouldn\u2019t be able to decree that I display a message that goes against my beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, the motto was also chosen to be printed on the new Mississippi state flag, replacing the older design, which featured a Confederate battle symbol. Ahead of the new design being approved by the legislature,\u00a0the <strong>Satanic Temple<\/strong> threatened its own lawsuit\u00a0against Attorney General <strong>Lynn Fitch<\/strong>, citing similar constitutional concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group claims that Governor <strong>Tate Reeves<\/strong> has expressed hostility toward atheist groups before, pointing specifically at his election campaign for governor when Reeves campaigned on the \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d message, boasting about the new license plate and affixing one to a vehicle in\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ue_yS-O4lOI\" target=\"_blank\">a 2019 commercial<\/a>\u00a0titled \u201cIn God We Trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I know Mississippi\u2019s values are our strength\u2026and I meant it when I said as Governor I would defend our values every single day! <br>I will defend \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d on our tag, on our flag, and on our state seal\u2026.Every. Single. Day. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6kYoKOZ7F6\">pic.twitter.com\/6kYoKOZ7F6<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tatereeves\/status\/1407452740645703681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMississippi car owners should not be punished with higher fees for refusing to promote an exclusionary and divisive message,\u201d said Ocean Springs attorney <strong>Dianne Ellis<\/strong>. \u201cThey are entitled to an alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ellis said that the Supreme Court,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mtsu.edu\/first-amendment\/article\/228\/wooley-v-maynard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in 1977<\/a>, ruled that such compelled speech on license plates was unconstitutional. Two recent Supreme Court cases,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mtsu.edu\/first-amendment\/article\/1916\/fulton-v-city-of-philadelphia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fulton<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mtsu.edu\/first-amendment\/article\/1901\/tandon-v-newsom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tandon<\/a>, also support American Atheists\u2019 claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court ruled that where a law or policy includes a system of exemptions, a similar exemption must be provided for anyone with religious objections. Since Mississippi does not provide alternative plate designs to certain categories of individuals, in theory, atheists and other Mississippians who object to \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d must receive equal treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo matter how much Governor Reeves or other politicians want to pretend that Mississippi is some kind of Christians-only club, it doesn\u2019t make it true,\u201d said President of American Atheists <strong>Nick Fish<\/strong>. \u201cForcing atheist drivers to endorse a religious message they reject is antithetical to our values as Americans and unconstitutional, plain and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While groups such as American Atheists demand that Mississippi offer a plate without \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d at no additional fee, Reeves reacted to the suit\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tatereeves\/status\/1407452740645703681\" target=\"_blank\">Tuesday with a tweet promising<\/a>\u00a0to fight to keep the motto on the state\u2019s tag, flag, and seal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can read the entire complaint online>>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atheists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210622-COMPLAINT.pdf\">https:\/\/www.atheists.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20210622-COMPLAINT.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"25\" height=\"16\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg?resize=25%2C16\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14544\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, June 22, 2021, American Atheists, the Mississippi Humanist Association, and three nonreligious Mississippi residents filed a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":112077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[18845,18847,18854,18851,14512,17150,5,18850,18846,2700,18848,18855,18852,18853,18849,6883],"class_list":["post-112076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-american-atheists","tag-automobile-tag","tag-dianne-ellis","tag-geoffrey-t-blackwell","tag-in-god-we-trust","tag-lynn-fitch","tag-mississippi","tag-mississippi-commissioner-of-revenue","tag-mississippi-humanist-association","tag-mississippi-state-flag","tag-motto","tag-nick-fish","tag-sarah-worrel","tag-satanic-temple","tag-state-seal","tag-tate-reeves"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/InGodWeTrust-AutomobileTag.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}