Federal court says Christian-themed license plates unconstitutional

10.11.09, ABP NEWS (US). A federal judge ruled Nov. 10 that a South Carolina license plate featuring a cross, stained-glass window and the words "I Believe" violates the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie said a 2008 law that sailed through the state Legislature creating the Christian-themed plates "amounts to state endorsement not only of religion in general, but of a specific sect in particular."