INDIANAPOLIS (CN) - After approving a woman's BE GODS license plate for 8 years, the State of Indiana rejected it for "inappropriate content," she says in Federal Court. The phrase is taken from Romans 14:7-8, says Elizabeth Ferris, and Indiana already uses the phrase "In God We Trust" on every license plate.
Ferris says the state cannot censor her license plate because of its religious content. She paid the defendant Bureau of Motor Vehicles $48 for the personalized plate, and she wants the personalized plate. She says the words are an abbreviation of the phrase, "belonging to God."
She says she demanded a hearing, with an attorney, after being rejected, and the BMV officer sided with her, but the state overruled him.
And she claims that state regulations say it can reject a personalized plate only if it "carries a connotation offensive to good taste and decency," is "misleading," or if "an objective, reasonable person" would object to it for any of nine reasons. She says her plate passes all the tests.
She wants her BE GODS plate back, and costs.
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