Sunday, December 13, 2009

Atheist Wins Council Seat in Asheville, Christians Pissed

Posted by Will Moredock on Sun, Dec 13, 2009 at 4:06 PM

An atheist has been elected to City Council in Asheville, N.C.,
and the Christians are coming out of the woodwork to challenge
the legality of it, citing the N.C. Constitution. Sound familiar? Yes,
we had a similar case in S.C. years ago when College of Charleston
mathematics professor Herb Silverman was barred from holding
office due to a similar clause in the S.C. constitution. With a little
help from the ACLU, Silverman got that absurd piece of law overturned
and I suspect Mr. Bothwell will do the same very easily in N.C. By the
way, Silverman is quoted in this AP story. Check it out at
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/11/AR2009121102896.html?nav=rss_politics


RALEIGH, N.C. — 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."

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Those Christians aren't acting very Christian. Maybe they're teabaggers disgused as Christians.

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Posted by charlestowne2 on December 13, 2009 at 5:43 PM

My god, you would think he was gay or somthing.

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Posted by cappy911 on December 13, 2009 at 6:02 PM

Actually -- and unfortunately -- Herb's case didn't get "that absurd piece of law overturned." The state constitution still states (in three places, iirc) that no one who doesn't affirm belief in a supreme being can hold elected or appointed office. Herb's case just established that these provisions are unenforceable; they're still on the books. The only ways to get them struck down are by calling a convention to rewrite the constitution, or through voter referendum. And in case everybody's forgotten, it took SC voters thirty years to pass a ballot measure that finally brought us in line with a higher court ruling that said the state laws barring interracial marriage were unenforceable.

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Posted by dbwindhorst on December 13, 2009 at 9:28 PM

So the "Christians are coming out of the woodwork," eh Will?

From the article: "My father was a Baptist minister. I'm a Christian man. I have problems with people who don't believe in God," said Edgerton, a former local NAACP president and founder of Southern Heritage 411, an organization that promotes the interests of black southerners.

The head of a conservative weekly newspaper says city officials shirked their duty to uphold the state's laws by swearing in Bothwell. David Morgan, editor of the Asheville Tribune, said he's tired of seeing his state Constitution "trashed."

Two. One a PR man for various activist groups and the other a newspaper editor. Are there protests in the streets? No... actually the populace elected this godless heathen. The Councilman is seated.

Mr. Edgerton is looking for press. David Morgan is looking for an opportunity to showcase the "D-" he must have gotten in high school civics. Whooptie-doo.

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Posted by factoryconnection on December 14, 2009 at 11:59 AM

The U.S. Constitution, Article VI, section 3 states:
"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

Sounds pretty clear-cut to me: N.C.'s law requiring officeholders to believe in God is unconstitutional.

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Posted by Brad Bailey on December 15, 2009 at 7:47 PM
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