Sunday, December 13, 2009
Cecil Bothwell
States have not been allowed to ban politicians from public office on religious grounds for almost 50 years, but that’s not stopping residents in Asheville, North Carolina, a town of 75,000, from trying to unseat a newly-elected atheist from the city council. Councilman Cecil Bothwell calls himself a “post-theist” and says that he does not believe in a deity. That has conservatives angry, and determined to unseat Bothwell by citing the state constitution (Article 6, section 8) which reads: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”
Regardless of what the North Carolina constitution says, federal law supersedes matters related to qualifications for public office. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld since 1961 that federal law prohibits states from requiring any kind of religious test to serve in office.
North Carolina’s anti-atheist provision dates back to 1816, and isn’t the only one found in state constitutions. Arkansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have similar provisions barring non-believers from office.
Bothwell is actually a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Critics of Cecil Bothwell Cite N.C. Bar to Atheists (by Jordan Schrader, Asheville Citizen-Times)
Lawsuit Threatened over Atheist Councilman in NC (by Alysia Patterson, Associated Press)
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