Woman sues over rejected '8THEIST' license plate

[Hum]

NEWARK, NJ ?  A New Jersey woman claims she was denied a license plate proclaiming herself to be an atheist because it might be considered offensive.

Shannon Morgan said in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday that the Motor Vehicle Commission violated her First Amendment rights when its website rejected the plate reading "8THEIST."

The Maurice River Township woman says she also asked for a plate reading "BAPTIST" as a test. The website accepted it.

Messages and emails left for the Motor Vehicle Commission were not immediately returned. A recorded message said the offices were closed because of Good Friday.

New Jersey previously, after a brief flap, approved a request from an atheist group's president for a license plate with the word "atheist." His plate had the number one in place of the letter "i."

source

[Noir Angel]

Had this been the other way around the conservatives would be loudly whining oppression to anybody prepared to listen. About time they realised freedom of speech applies to people who aren't bible thumpers as well.

[Hum]

I wonder if JESUS or ALLAH would be OK.

[Dinggus]

Personalized license plates are pointless and a waste of money anyways.

[Xerino]

you are also not allowed any swear word, 69 or 420, kind of silly really

[Stokkolm]

Had this been the other way around the conservatives would be loudly whining oppression to anybody prepared to listen. About time they realised freedom of speech applies to people who aren't bible thumpers as well.

Are you suggesting she's not? She filed a lawsuit for crying out loud. Anyway, I don't see why NJ cares what her license plate says.

[+Warwagon MVC]

She's doing it wrong. Doesn't she know you are not suppose to use license plates that are easy to read. You are suppose to research it and create a letter number combination which is heard for the brain to remember.

[Lachlan]

Are you suggesting she's not? She filed a lawsuit for crying out loud. Anyway, I don't see why NJ cares what her license plate says.

 

other way around, conservative groups would be doing the lawsuits not the individual. 

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20140413/WDH01/304130301/Appleton-man-driving-force-behind-God-We-Trust-license-plate

 

this happened pretty close as well

[McKay]

She's doing it wrong. Doesn't she know you are not suppose to use license plates that are easy to read. You are suppose to research it and create a letter number combination which is heard for the brain to remember.

 

[+Warwagon MVC]

 

 

AMAZING!!! I LOVE IT! I want it!!! Can I double like your post? :laugh:

 

Although instead of a 8 at the end they should really make it a B, just in case they remember the pattern. They should also use the Microsoft Product key font. That will make it even harder to tell the 8's and the B's apart.

[Noir Angel]

Are you suggesting she's not? She filed a lawsuit for crying out loud. Anyway, I don't see why NJ cares what her license plate says.

 

She wouldn't need to if Christian zealots hadn't tried to suppress her free speech and freedom of religion.

[+Red King Subscriber²]

She should win. After all atheism is only offense to highly religious nuts

[macrosslover]

She wouldn't need to if Christian zealots hadn't tried to suppress her free speech and freedom of religion.

I don't see Christians mentioned anywhere in this article.  She says the website rejected it, not some human being sitting at a desk.  We have no idea if the software they used was programmed by the original company to reject that word based on parameters set by the DMV or if somebody added it on their own.  We also don't know if the primary persons involved aren't Muslim, Hindu, or any of the other major religions that might take offense to somebody proclaiming they are atheist.

 

That said I may shock you but as a Christian I don't care what her license plate says.  There's no justifiable reason why she should have been rejected.  Many personalized tags have the potential to be offensive.  If they truly wanted to avoid this issue they would be better off not allowing the use of any personalized tags but of course they won't do that because of the money they make.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I don't see Christians mentioned anywhere in this article.  She says the website rejected it, not some human being sitting at a desk.  We have no idea if the software they used was programmed by the original company to reject that word based on parameters set by the DMV or if somebody added it on their own.

Somewhere along the line there was a human who determined it was inappropriate. Whether it was because of religious convictions or to avoid potential offence isn't clear but certainly disallowing it has caused offence.

[McKay]

Should have tried 4THEIST :)

[HawkMan]

AMAZING!!! I LOVE IT! I want it!!! Can I double like your post? :laugh:

 

Although instead of a 8 at the end they should really make it a B, just in case they remember the pattern. They should also use the Microsoft Product key font. That will make it even harder to tell the 8's and the B's apart.

 

how many seconds do you think it would take the cops/dmv to locate and find the owners of that car.

[Noir Angel]

I don't see Christians mentioned anywhere in this article.  She says the website rejected it, not some human being sitting at a desk.  We have no idea if the software they used was programmed by the original company to reject that word based on parameters set by the DMV or if somebody added it on their own.  We also don't know if the primary persons involved aren't Muslim, Hindu, or any of the other major religions that might take offense to somebody proclaiming they are atheist.

 

That said I may shock you but as a Christian I don't care what her license plate says.  There's no justifiable reason why she should have been rejected.  Many personalized tags have the potential to be offensive.  If they truly wanted to avoid this issue they would be better off not allowing the use of any personalized tags but of course they won't do that because of the money they make.

 

In America it's a simple matter of mathematics. Something like this crops up it's almost always a conservative Christian behind it.

[mudslag]

Personalized license plates are pointless and a waste of money anyways.

 

 

Good thing you're not forced to get your own vanity plate then

[Praetor]

stopped reading when i saw the tag "new jersey" jk

 

i don't know why everything this days has to be "news"; i mean i saw that Amazon changed the price tag of a product in less then 10 minutes, should i go and make a "news" of this?

[Dinggus]

Good thing you're not forced to get your own vanity plate then

 

Maybe they should go away from them seeing idiots like this woman gets butt hurt over stupid ######.

[mudslag]

Maybe they should go away from them seeing idiots like this woman gets butt hurt over stupid ####.

 

 

Someone getting upset about something isn't a reason to get rid of it. 

[Dinggus]

Someone getting upset about something isn't a reason to get rid of it. 

 

Suing because she can't get her license plate the way she wants, is a reason.

[mudslag]

Suing because she can't get her license plate the way she wants, is a reason.

 

 

Then people would sue for not being able to get them when others already have them. If you try to take those away from those that already have them, then they sue. Anyway you put it, someone will sue. Best option would be to let her just have the plate, then she wont sue. The fact is vanity plates are here to stay.

[Sandor]

Luckily the Government of Ontario is cool and sanctions glories such as this.

 

[+Red King Subscriber²]

Suing because she can't get her license plate the way she wants, is a reason.

You are implying that suing because a freedom is selectively available is a bad thing.