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Atheists can't hold office in Tennessee?
Topic Started: Mar 20 2015, 06:16 PM (302 Views)
George K
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Finally
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/19/tenn-atheists-fight-law-bars-office/25051551/
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Tennessee's state constitution says that, "No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this State."

Hedy Weinberg, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said the provisions are old and unconstitutional. The Supreme Court makes it clear that residents cannot be prevented from holding office based on their faith or lack of it, she said.

"Their presence in the constitution is troubling because it is a symbolic form of discrimination," Weinberg said.

The provisions are called religious tests. Openly Secular's report cites the 1961 U.S. Supreme Court decision Torcaso v. Watkins, which ruled the U.S. Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from requiring any kind of religious test for eligibility to hold office.

In addition to Tennessee, the Openly Secular report also calls out provisions in the Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas constitutions for banning secular residents from certain civic roles such as serving on a jury, holding office and testifying in court. Pennsylvania's constitution specifically gives protections to those who believe in God.
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jon-nyc
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Jesus Christ.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
There's also a law that says before you drive a car through the middle of town you must have someone go ahead of you on a horse and warn people you're coming.

Most every state has crap like this that's still on the books. What this is about isn't that atheists are barred from holding public office, they're not. It's that atheists are looking for every opportunity they can to remove anything that even hints at God off the planet.

That part of Tennessee's state Constitution was written long before the religion of atheism began its war on all the other religions.....
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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Copper
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Sharia will fix this.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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George K
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jon-nyc
Mar 20 2015, 10:53 PM
Jesus Christ.
:lol2:

And then there's this:
Quote:
 
In England the tests stemmed from fears that someone would turn the reigns of the country over to an ecclesiastical power,

Don't they have editors?
Quote:
 
The ACLU's Weinberg said some members serving in the Tennessee legislature are clergy members, which also is technically prohibited in the state constitution. Although both provisions are unconstitutional, removing them means the constitution would need to be amended, which is no small task.

I wonder if Ms. Greene would want them removed from the legislature. From what I get, no one has made an issue of her atheism, and it appears that she feels like a "second-class citizen." Unless she's actually been discriminated agains, she's got nothing other than her feelings.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
It rather does point to the US being founded as a Christian nation.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
I used to live in Chester, UK where there was a law still in place that a Welsh person found within the city walls after sunset could be shot with a crossbow.

Obviously, it's a completely ridiculous law - there's no bloody way to buy a crossbow over there nowadays. Believe me, I tried.
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jon-nyc
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Longbow not ok? Damn reformists!
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Copper
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George K
Mar 21 2015, 05:21 AM
Unless she's actually been discriminated agains, she's got nothing other than her feelings.

Don't we have editors?
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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