“ASHEVILLE — North Carolina’s constitution is clear: politicians who deny the existence of God are barred from holding office.
Opponents of Cecil Bothwell are seizing on that law to argue he should not be seated as a City Council member today, even though federal courts have ruled religious tests for public office are unlawful under the U.S. Constitution.
Voters elected the writer and builder to the council last month.
“I’m not saying that Cecil Bothwell is not a good man, but if he’s an atheist, he’s not eligible to serve in public office, according to the state constitution,” said H.K. Edgerton, a former Asheville NAACP president.”
Citizen-Times (thanks, SonOfSam)
the USA is such a scary place. so much power, yet run by people who believe in bearded fairies.
i dont want people who believe in fictional characters in any position of power. how is this any different from someone saying they believe in elves?
There are plenty of very nice, very intelligent Americans, but this is just nuts. Surely the exact opposite would be far more sensible!
You would never know that America is based on a secular and not a fundamentalist state….
I think that the only response to something that ridiculous is:
“Holy Jesus!!”
Hehe
He could give his own definition of god (just like believers) for example the Sun being his god. It would show how stupid this kind of discrimination is.
This kind of thing actually makes me feel slightly sick in my stomach.
… I hate organised religion.
Sorry to be “strident and aloof”, but it’s increasingly hard not to.
This is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard in my life! Surely an atheist mind would be one less prone to bias. It seems the ignorant minds of americans believe that a lack of belief in god means the individual worships the devil. The american mind is incapable of self – moral control and so needs a mysterious universal governor to guide it. An individual who relies on intelligence and logic rather than this entity is therefore untrustworthy in the public’s eyes. I have always believed that a world without religion would be one less volatile and prone to war, although this would clearly not be true of america. Without religion, there would be nothing to control the nation, as the afore mentioned intelligence and logic is definitely lacking.
This is appalling.
Who cares that America has a black president? The day it has an atheist I will be truely happy.
Besides the fact that not only is all religion a denial of truth/stupid and the effects are completely evil, forcing belief upon people or denying their belief is against human rights and a crime against humanity.
Everything should and must be secular. It’s the only way society can run.
This is fundamentalism and fundamentalism is pretty rubbish.
Stuff like this is why I’m embarrassed to be American. I hope the attention called to this will help people see that articles in the constitution like that should be removed.
What would Jebus do?
What about if someone believes in God but does not believe that He is the creator of the universe? What if someone believes that God is real enough to cause all the things (both good and bad) that are done in His name, but does not believe that He has an existence independent of the minds that host Him? That’s still believing in God, right? I believe in God
That is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard. If that was the other way round and religious people were barred then there would be an uproar. Jesus christ.
Whatever happened to the seperation of church and state?
“the USA is such a scary place.”
HAHAHA! now if only we could convince the terrorists of that, so they’d stay out! :/
This was decided by the US Supreme Court back in 1961… http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/court/torc_v_watk.html
The City Council has not a leg to stand on.
This just seems so ridiculous to me. Are religion & politics so intertwined nowadays that this is the way of things?
LC x
What is this?! The dark ages?
The thing is that this is probably the most powerful superpower in the world. Which is frightening that these morons can be in this position. Its embarrassing to even consider them part of the human race. But its not Americans in general. But it is the gobby ones that you hear about and see in America which taint our observations of the people as a whole. The normal ones quietly go about their business like most do around the world. But seriously the problem with America is the apathy that allows this kind of crap to come to the fore. That and people like Bush to stay in power, when clearly he was a twat. Everybody knew it, he should have been removed when it became apparent and replaced with an oops we cocked up broadcast. But their apathy allows this charade of a race to continue unabated and we take on their protocols – humiliating.
@ Ladyclair Religion is always and has always been the greater power. If you deny the existence of god then you are denying that there is a supreme being in charge of it all. If you do that who is in charge of us. We are. Then who can be right. The guys with the biggest guns. And that cant happen. So God is in charge. Pathetically we cling to this idiotic fallacy taking our own interpretations of the word of god and using it to morally rule others. But when that fails then it comes down to what really counts – do as I say cause I have the biggest guns. Dreadful state of affairs. And then when it goes tits up, then we turn to “god” to guide us back to a morally correct standpoint. Which is based on our interpretation of what Gods word is. Idiotic circular belief. And then the religious peacekeepers step in to take moral charge. Scary.
“…if he’s an atheist, he’s not eligible to serve in public office…”
Damn right! I mean, think of all the political duties that involve religion! Think of the chaos that would be caused if the people determining the budgets for schools, laying the maps for roads, and writing new laws didn’t have a thorough understanding of God! Madness…Madness I tell you!!! You’ll see…One day those carefully selected Christian politicians (not Muslim or Jewish or anything like that, obviously, we know they’re wrong,) will come up with some wonderful things that atheist politicians couldn’t POSSIBLY come up with, like better designs for hospitals, better quality education for children, and a better way to express sarcasm in text form.
About time we brought religion back into our classrooms and lives in the UK….The whole anti god mafia seems to have taken over the US and UK