COLUMBIA --- Faith in the public square would have a high profile in South Carolina as three bills move closer to becoming law.

One creates license tags with "I Believe" in front of a cross, a second makes clear prayers can be offered before public meetings and a third allows set public displays of key historical legal foundation documents that would include the Ten Commandments.

They're all beginning to raise questions about whether the state is taking a role in promoting faith. "The South Carolina Legislature should not be in the business of telling people how or when to pray, whether to pray or to whom to pray," said Jeremy Gunn, the director of the American Civil Liberty Union's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief in Washington.

State Sen. Yancey McGill, a Kingstree Democrat, got the car tag bill passed without even having a public hearing or debate.

"It's a great idea," he said Tuesday. "People don't have to buy them. But it affords them that opportunity. I welcome any religion tags."

What about Wicca, commonly referred to as witchcraft? "Well, that's not what I consider to be a religion," Mr. McGill said. And Buddhism? "I'd have to look at the individual situation. But I'm telling you, I firmly believe in this tag."