When these bills were first introduced, The Detroit Free Press ran a short aricle featuring this from Sen. Roger Kahn :
Normal
0
false
false
false
MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
“God (the "in god we trust plate) might be found too explicitly religious by the
courts, while "I Believe" is vague enough to pass constitutional
muster.” I think his words
are a pretty good indicator that he recognizes this inherent violation and hopes to slide the "I believe" in unnoticed/unchallenged.
This bill as well as SB 0128 (In god we trust) passed by a large margin - 28 to 8. From what I know, the Mi. Senate is pretty conservative, so it's not a big surprise that want Michigan to sponsor their religion, to the exclusion of all others. They're aware of the lawsuit in Indiana over the same thing and are half-expecting the same challenge here. But because he challenge in Indiana wasn't successful, legislators here think they will prevail as well (with no thought to the cost of defending such a lawsuit!). On the plus side, similar such plates in S. Carolina and Florida were not allowed to proceed, due to separation issues.
There is a very serious (& growing) ignorance in Michigan (the whole country!) regarding Separation of Church/State, which I find appalling. It's the whole "We are a christian nation" crap - which is 100% false; some go so far as to say separation is a myth (that's another thread). Addidionatlly, many people believe the wall of separation is anti-religion, which is a distortion. It's there to protect the religious liberty of all (or none at all).
If this gets scheduled for a committee meeting or public hearing, I plan to attend, if not to testify. The national organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) also plan to attend. If you're not familiar with AU, I think you'll be pleased with what they offer. And if you're in or near Lansing, come to the meeting/hearing. We need to call them on this!
Anyway, Michigan House isn't nearly as conservative as the Senate, so hopefully these two bills will just die in committee.
Melissa (Sorry for the long post!)