In which right-wing Christians manufacture a false crisis

In South Carolina, there is a row over a license plate. This license plate:

A judge has ordered an immediate end to production of this license plate. Now, conservative Christians in South Carolina are up in arms and actively damning the judge and the ACLU to hell.

Red-faced and angry, shaking his fist alongside his Bible, [Rev. Arnold] Hiette told the congregation [assembled at a Baptist church] that the four complainants - especially the Unitarian - and one judge who took away the people's right to witness via their vehicle tags "along with the ACLU, they're going to burn in hell."

Well, isn't that precious? Here is why I think this issue is complete and utter bullshit. The license tag was originally created by an act of the State Legislature, which brings up an issue with the separation of church and state. The creation of the license tag by the legislature was deemed improper. I think the judge's ruling was correct.

The good news for the folks that want this license tag is that they can go through the SC DMV and get it made with no problem; they just need to find an organization to sponsor the tag and find 300 people to pledge to buy the tag. If you're interested, here are the full guidelines. It took me about three minutes to find them via Google.

But that is not good enough, and it seems clear to me that the issue is not whether people can "witness via their car tags." Since I could find the guidelines from the SC DMV so quickly, I'm left wondering if everyone who wants the tag is profoundly ignorant of the bureaucracy or if they simply want a legal battle based on the principle that the government should officially make it, tag be damned. The news article makes it clear that they want to challenge the court injunction. In other words, they aren't looking to get the tag made, they want to fight so that the state will mandate the production of the tags. I wonder how many people could be fed and clothed with the money these Christians will waste on a court battle that needs not be fought since there is another way to get that damn car tag made.

And I'm troubled, but not surprised, that these Christians seem content to use their religious faith as a weapon in a culture war.

By the way, South Carolina does have an "In God We Trust" tag, so the anti-Christian argument is difficult to maintain.