"When Arizonans buy a license plate displaying the words "In God We Trust," they are told the money promotes the motto, First Amendment rights "and the heritage of this state and nation."
What they may not know is the money supports Alliance Defending Freedom, a controversial group based in Scottsdale whose mission statement is "to keep the doors open for the Gospel by advocating for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family."
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The specialty "In God We Trust" license plates are among many in Arizona offered to drivers through the Department of Transportation. Like the others, the plates offer $17 of the $25 purchase price to particular causes. . .
Secular Coalition for Arizona, a group that opposes religion in government, requested state Sen. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, obtain data regarding exactly where the money from the "In God We Trust" plates has been directed. ADOT only says on its website that money from the specialty plate promotes the national motto “In God We Trust,” First Amendment rights, "and the heritage of this state and nation."
A few other plates, among dozens offered by the state through ADOT, don't include explicit statements about what organization gets the money, though the recipient is noted in statute.
ADOT records that Alliance Defending Freedom has received more than $900,000 from the specialty plates since 2014.
. . . "We were appalled by it," said Tory Roberg, the director of government affairs for the Secular Coalition for Arizona. "People really need to know where their money is going."_________________________________________________________________________________
POINT:
“What do people not understand about the inappropriateness of this kind of fundamentalist-inspired, state-sanctioned discrimination?” said David Felten, a pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, in a press release from the coalition.
“This is not just an abstract violation of church-state separation. It’s a very real rejection of Arizona’s LGBTQ people by the very government that is supposed to impartially support and protect all of its citizens.”
COUNTER-POINT:
“State dollars should not be funding an organization that works to strip residents of our state of their human rights and human dignity. It’s appalling that we’ve already sent over a million dollars to this extremist hate group.”
Tedesco, from ADF, said the plates are appropriate.
"Arizona is well within its rights to offer its citizens an opportunity to voluntarily purchase license plates affirming the First Amendment and contributing to ADF's work on behalf of the freedom of all Americans to live and work according to their beliefs, . . "
