Thread: North Carolina Intollerant and Unconstitutional Action

the thing that really bugs me about this is they publish crap like this making it sound as if everyone in the state is behind it then people see it and throw it out for long discussions here and then after a lot of wasted time you find out its just one or a few extremist waving a flag and being loud. Guys learn to read between the lines the papers and the new agencies are just distracting you from the really important stuff.

I'm confused, what does H. K. Edgerton have to do with Cecil Bothwell not being allowed to serve because he's an Atheist?

“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.

read the article

I wonder what he is basing that on? Unless it is *his* interpretation of this:

Sec. 13. Religious liberty.
All persons have a natural and inalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and no human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience.

An assuming because it doesn't mention "or not worship" he is assuming there is no qualification for higher office without religion. He's reaching either way. Of course there is always this to cover that situation as well:

Sec. 36. Other rights of the people.

The enumeration of rights in this Article shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people.

Originally Posted by Warbler

here is the quote from article 6 of the Constitution in question:

"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

it makes no reference to upholding opinions of the founding documents, it just says "to support this Constitution".

Also, could someone please quote a founding document that says atheists should not be able to hold elected office?

I'd like to respond to the opinion that NC should just ignore the U.S. Supreme Court if it rules against them. Just when did NC become a Nation? I never recalled reading in the papers that NC seceded from the Union? The states have some rights, but when they joined the Union, they gave some up. One of the rights they gave up was the right to ignore U.S. Supreme court rulings. If the U.S. Constitution has no power over state Constitutions, what is the point of having a U.S. Constitution? We might as well burn the thing can become 50 different Countries.



I find this very offensive. I also find it very un-American. I think it is hate speech.

I am sorry to offend you. It was not my intention to offend anyone. I sincerely mean this because your opinion is as valid as mine.

I am offended you think me un-American. My family was here before the term American was even thought of., we've only served in every war, but were good soldiers and survived the third hour of Normandy and Hamburger Hill. My grandfather retired at 82 years old as the oldest and longest serving prison warden in US history. My father was key in integrating schools in my home town and was the first and only white (caucasian) administrator ever invited to the largest local African-American CHurch for their teacher retirement service. Oh yes, they are also conservative and a Christians and definitely haters.
I get accused of hate, I mean I am studying and paying major dollars (280,000) to learn to save and improve lives for a government that wants to pay me nothing and like it. Oh yes, I am definitely a hater. By the way, I am also a Christian, conservative, and despise corrupt government which especially makes me even more of a hater than my forbearers.
You might remember this thing called the Civil War. Believe it or not, North Carolina, along with many other states asked to withdraw from the Union, but after asking the "Union" then killed 180,000 of us, and raped, pillaged, burned homes, and caused most non-slave owning families to loose their farms due to new imposed taxes, we had to give in. What choice did we have? The union really saved us then. They only killed 18% of white males between the ages of 13 and 43.
I am not un-American. If I were I support our corrupt government and courts. I want liberty and justice for all. I have lived outside it in a socialized third world country and do not wish the US to become one. I love this country and if a foreign invader comes here I will gladly die as others have to protect it. I thank God that the war kept the US together as well, I just don't fantasize the lies that we teach our kids about the Union Army and their brutal acts. I also want the people to have power and the first and best way (in my opinion) to achieve that is for states to take control of their own internal affairs and keep the federal government out of it, even if that means ignoring the courts.
This is my opinion, if you find it offensive then fine, but don't think your is more valid because you disagree with it. It was not meant as a hate speech. I didn't refer to you as un-American or a hater since you clearly hate conservative minded people with their own opinions.

I don't hate all conservatives, just those that would deny someone the ability to serve in elected office on the basics of his/her religious beliefs. You claim you are American, yet you support discrimination against atheists. You say you are American, yet you support a state refusing to obey, not just court rulings, but the U.S. Constitution. It says: "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." States have rights ,but they do not have the right to ignore the U.S. Constitution or the U.S. Supreme(which gets it power from the U.S. Constitution). As for what the Federal government should do if N.C. deliberately disobeys the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme court: call out the National Guard. If N.C. were to do that, wouldn't you be the least bit concerned about the U.S. Constitution and Supreme court losing their teeth? Tell me, if a state tries to ban guns, and the U.S. Supreme court rules that it violates the 2nd Amendment, can the state just ignore the Supreme Court then as well?

America stands equality. Keeping someone out of office on bases of religious belief or lack there of, goes against that. I could be wrong, but you come across as a bigot. It seems like you hate anyone whose religious beliefs goes against your own. That is un-American.

btw, do you think none of the 100s of thousands of brave that fought and died for this country were atheists? Do you think they fought for a nation that allows laws against atheists from taking elected office?

one last thing, show where in the Constitution it says that states can leave the Union? I must have missed that part.