Some have called Utah a theocracy. The Beehive State may have some peculiarities due to its predominant religious culture but at least its constitution doesn’t outright ban atheists.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sent a letter Tuesday (Feb. 17) to the Arkansas legislature in support of a bill to amend Article 19, Section 1, of the Arkansas Constitution, which states: “No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court.”
“The free expression of religious belief, together with what James Madison called ‘the full and equal rights of conscience,’ should apply to people of all religious traditions — including atheists. Government should no more penalize a person for professing atheism than for professing a belief in Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam,” the Becket Fund letter said.
Even stranger that Texas and Tennessee have similar language in their constitutions. The Becket Fund is the organization that ran the NY Times ad in December defending the LDS and other other churches for their Prop 8 involvement.
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Tags: church-state relations, separation of church and state
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