Freedom of Religion or Freedom From Religion

(Photo at right is of Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey)

A great many of our local, state and national representatives, duly elected by the people of the United States to uphold the Constitution, fail to understand that the United States of America is not about the business of praising the Christian god, nor worshipping the Christian god, nor supporting the Christian god, nor following the laws of the Christian god, nor even believing in the Christian god.

They further fail to understand that it is not in their job description as representatives of all the people to try to impose a belief in the Christian god upon their constituents, or force their constituents to support the Christian god in any way. Somehow they missed the class which taught that our founding document forbids the establishment of religion.

A surprising number of our elected poohbahs do not have a clue as to the contents of our founding document--the Constitution. Not satisfied with the freedom to worship the god of their choice in whatever manner they choose on any particular day(s) they select, they have determined that they have a Christian god-given duty to clobber the rest of us with their particular religious pathology.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the state of Florida.


Mike Fasano is probably a nice guy; the kind you'd like to sit down and have a beer with on a hot Saturday afternoon. He's just got some strange ideas. Mike Fasano is a senator in the Florida State Legislature, a Republican from New Port Richey, and a dedicated member of the Roman Catholic Church.

Perhaps it's the Roman Catholic connection, as that institution always fights to impose its beliefs upon all the people of every country where it has a presence, so it's easy to see why Fasano, a "good" Catholic, thinks it's the duty of the state of Florida to support programs dedicated to his Christian god.


Like many, if not all, states today, Florida has a myriad of "specialty" license plates. Over 100. Many are innocuous, having to do with such things as saving the manatee, or supporting the Special Olympics, or memorializing the Challenger space shuttle, or promoting a college or professional sports team.

But Florida, also like most other states, has been invaded by the Christian Right and through a variety of devious schemes has approved other, inappropriate, and unconstitutional "specialty" plates.

For example, a deeply religious Marion County Commissioner by name of Randy Harris, who evidently didn't do enough to mess up Marion County, decided to see how he could muck up things on the state level. He's the one responsible for the "Choose Life" plate which is essentially a middle-finger to pro-choice folks even though the Choose Life organization insists they merely want to promote the adoption option for pregnant women who may otherwise seek an abortion.

Last year, the "Choose Life" plate took in $805,350! That's an incredible sum when you think it came in $25 at a time! But you do see that sickening yellow plate everywhere which serves again as a reminder just how powerful the Christian Right is in the state of Florida.

But that's just one plate giving obeisance to the Christian god.

We also have a "Family Values" specialty plate. This bunch got $56,625 last year to help support Sheridan House, an organization offering a variety of assistance programs to people in need. It is based in Davie, Florida, and while it no doubt does good work, it is a specifically Christian organization.

There's another plate with the title, "Parents Make a Difference." This is part of The Gathering, USA, Inc., and operates under the flag of "Lifework Leadership" in Florida. They offer "leadership development from a Christian world view, based on the life and leadership of Jesus Christ." This bunch received $49,825 from the license plate program.

A related specialty plate is the one that proclaims "Family First." Family First is less outwardly Christian, but is definitely "spiritually" based, referring to the Bible and biblical words like "stewardship," and referencing people like Mother Teresa. They provide a variety of helps related to families and family relationships. Their take last year was $176,225.


Back to Mike Fasano. He has introduced Senate Bill 734 which would create four new specialty plates in the state of Florida. The first of these is a tennis license plate which would urge people to "Play Tennis," and the monies derived from said plate would go to the Florida Sports Foundation. I have no clue why Fasano thinks such a plate is needed. Generally, people who play tennis have a more money than the rest of us, so why do they need a license plate?

The second plate is a Lighthouse Association license plate. The words, "Visit Our Lights" would appear on the bottom of this plate, and any funds raised by this plate would be put into the coffers of the Florida Lighthouse Association, Inc. This plate may have some validity in that lighthouses in disrepair are probably low on the state budget's priority list.

The tennis and lighthouse plates may be kinda stupid and probably unnecessary, but not particularly harmful.


The third plate proposed by Senator Fasano takes the level of Florida legislative religious pandering to a new level of absurdity! This is the "I Believe" plate. "The word 'Florida' will appear at the top of the plate and the words 'I Believe' will be printed at the bottom of the plate." The background will be a beautiful sunrise and superimposed on that will be a cross in front of a stained-glass window.

Monies received from this disaster would be given to the Orlando-based Faith in Teaching, Inc., a decidedly Catholic group which has as its goal the promotion of faith-based education [read Christian] in the state of Florida.

The final and just as moronic an idea from Senator Fasano is an "In God We Trust" plate. It is important, thinks Fasano, that people be able to read the words "In God We Trust" on the back of the car in front of them. Some of the funds from this plate would go to the In God We Trust Foundation, Inc., "to fund educational scholarships for the children of Florida residents who are members of the United States Armed Forces...." Money from this plate will also be given to "provide educational grants to public and private schools to promote the historical and religious significance of American and Florida history." (Whatever that means!)


There is no question the "I Believe" plate and the "In God We Trust" plate are unconstitutional, (as are the other aforementioned "religious" plates) for they openly support the establishment of religion. Florida's ACLU director, Howard Simon, thinks the idea of a state-approved tag with a cross should jolt Florida's legislators into rethinking the whole "crazy" system of specialty license plates.

The state of Florida has become a collection agency for a variety of religious, specifically conservative Christian groups, who hide their real identity behind specialty license plates. This is NOT the business of the state of Florida!

The unfortunate thing is that what is happening in Florida is happening in many other states across the country. The Religious Right in its various incarnations has risen to infect the political process with its machinations and duplicity. It's like a huge rock tumbling down a mountain, increasing in speed and force and no one has either the will or the power to stop it.

What should be obvious is that we don't need any more freedom of religion in this country; what we really need is freedom from religion!