Why is Indiana Screwing over Atheists?
While the state of Indiana promotes belief in a god through specialty license plates, it discriminates against atheists who choose their own personal plate. Now, I am not asking for Indiana officials to make a specialty plate that says, "In Atheism we Trust", but why are atheists who request personal license plates being discriminated against by the Indiana BMV?
A Brian Bongrager requested a license plate that read, "Athe1st". It was denied. Of course there are Christians & other theists with license plates that state their personal belief in a deity, but an atheist cannot get his/her own plate? Is the word "atheist", offensive? Unfortunately to some it seems to be. I remember reading about bus ads in some areas that atheist groups wanted to run, that only said "Atheists", and even those were deemed too offensive to post. Too objectionable.
Whatever an individual might think of atheists like me or Mr. Bongrager or millions of other non-believers, the government cannot discriminate based on religion or having no religion.
I don't ask Christians/ theists to be quiet about their religious belief, so there is no reason to demand that atheists be silent about not having a belief in a god, especially considering the fact that being in the closet about being an atheist allows such myths that atheists are immoral or bad people, to continue. Let's end discrimination in 2017, even if we disagree with what a group being discriminated against has to say.
