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DISCUSS (5)

Effort to Remove Atheist From City Council

Posted by Raymond on December 16, 2009

From CBS News:

Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell believes in ending the death penalty, conserving water and reforming government – but he doesn’t believe in God. His political opponents say that’s a sin that makes him unworthy of serving in office, and they’ve got the North Carolina Constitution on their side.

Bothwell’s detractors are threatening to take the city to court for swearing him in, even though the state’s antiquated requirement that officeholders believe in God is unenforceable because it violates the U.S. Consititution.

“The question of whether or not God exists is not particularly interesting to me and it’s certainly not relevant to public office,” the recently elected 59-year-old said.

Bothwell ran this fall on a platform that also included limiting the height of downtown buildings and saving trees in the city’s core, views that appealed to voters in the liberal-leaning community at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. When Bothwell was sworn into office on Monday, he used an alternative oath that doesn’t require officials to swear on a Bible or reference “Almighty God.”

[Read more at CBS News]

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  • Word Eater

    Based on the state's constitution, he is disqualified.

    From the article: a little-noticed quirk in North Carolina's Constitution that disqualifies officeholders “who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”

    That's the end of that.

    The constitution should be fixed to exclude this statement, but there it is and it is there right now.

  • http://www.xenex.org/ xen

    However, a state constitution cannot override the United States Constitution, which North Carolina's certainly does. As that renders the caveat in the lowercase constitution void, I cannot see how it could realistically be used for Bothwell's ouster. Frankly, if this is the best his political enemies can do, he seems to have a leg up on them.

  • Tuna Ghost

    Realistically, it won't and can't be used–the Supreme Court has already set a number of precedents in similar cases. His opponents are well aware of this, I'm sure.

  • DavyChuck

    “His opponents are well aware of this, I'm sure.”

    Really? I don't think his opponents are aware of much of anything.

  • http://en-pi.facebook.com/steward John Deltuvia

    The funniest thing about this – and similar situations – is that Christians, who insist on swearing an oath on the Bible, are breaking their OWN religious law. According to Matthew Chapter 5, Christians who swear oaths are actually Satanists:

    33 Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.'

    34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne;

    35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

    36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.

    37 Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

    So, basically, most public officials in NC don't deny the being of “Almighty God”… they simply oppose him from their first day in office.