North Carolina House Speaker Kills Bill To Create State Religion

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/04/state-religion-bill-north-carolina_n_3016154.html

The Huffington Post | By John Celock
Posted: 04/04/2013 4:12 pm EDT | Updated: 04/04/2013 4:33 pm EDT

The Republican speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives killed legislation on Thursday that aimed to establish an official state religion.

House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Charlotte) announced Thursday afternoon that the bill would not be receiving a vote in the full House, effectively dropping the measure. Loretta Boniti, a reporter for News 14 Carolina, broke the news on Twitter, and it was confirmed in a breaking news alert posted on the home page of wral.com, a Raleigh-based television station. Tillis' decision followed several days of national media attention on the bill, which also said that the state government did not have to listen to federal court rulings and was exempt from the requirements of the First Amendment.

The bill, which was drafted by state Reps. Carl Ford (R-China Grove) and Harry Warren (R-Salisbury), was intended to address an issue in Rowan County, where the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the county commission in an attempt to block commissioners from having a Christian prayer at the beginning of meetings.

The North Carolina measure responds to the ACLU suit by declaring that each state is "sovereign" and no federal court can prevent a state from "from making laws respecting an establishment of religion." Though Warren, one of the bill's authors, told HuffPost Live that the measure was not seeking to create a state religion, the drafted legislation would clearly allow for such an action.

more at link

[rrneck]

1. Didn't we just finish an election? It's too early for this tomfoolery. nt

[cbayer]

2. Fortunately, the house speaker agreed with you.

[supernova]

3. No, what ended it was

several days of an embarrassingly negative media shitstorm.

Heh.

[cbayer]

4. That's fine. I hope there is significant pushback from the more rational legislators in NC.

[pinto]

5. Here's a good example of the role greater media attention can play.

There's less "under the radar" room.

[freshwest]

6. No doubt they planned to be first on their block to enforce 'Christian Nationalism.' They may have

learned from the Louisiana legislator who wrote a law that was enacted to send school voucher money to go to religious schools. Then was hit with the numerous Muslim groups getting the money to set up madrassas.

She said that she never imagined anyone but Christians would get the money. The problem with these guys is they have no idea of the consequences of their actions - unless they are already so corrupt they want bad outcomes.

I'm not sure they don't. The GOP are playing with and ruining the fabric of American life in all that they do, like bullies at recess.

Jefferson's wall of separation between church and state is among the best ideas America ever had. Let's keep it that way.

[cbayer]

7. Agree. They often seem to think that it is a given that if they set up exceptions

for religion, it only means their religion. The degree of their surprise when they realize that it applies to other religions is sometimes amusing and always surprising.

The separation issues have been trampled over the last few years in many states, but I think the pendulum is swinging back.

[supernova]

8. B/c ignornant people are allowed

to run for office in the GOP.

You don't need to have studied law or even have a basic grounding in Civics to run as a R for office. Just that you loudly say that you are a "good, god-fearing christian" suffices.

I wonder how many of these nutbars in office come out of the fundie homeschooling mill? I'm sure many of the young guns do. But the older ones?

[cbayer]

9. I think they are pretty politically savvy at times.

They know how to appeal to a certain demographic, and I am sure this bunch still has some strong support in certain quarters. Their constituency is probably not populated with people who know much more than they do about the law.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

11. Whenever I hear people calling for the posting of the Ten Commandments on public school walls

I ask, "What are the first and second commandments?" The answer is "I am YHWH your God. You shall have no other gods except me." I then ask, "What is the basic difference between posting that and posting "There is no god but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet"? The answer there is, of course, none. Any other answer is generally an example of the logical fallacy of Special Pleading

[cbayer]

12. And many christian fundamentalists seem genuinely surprised when this is pointed out.

[freshwest]

13. I think half those people think the first ten amendments to the Constitution are the same thing.

At least the religious fervor that goes with the Second Amendment, where nothing but their interpretation is holy. Any disagreement is met with fury.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

10. I'm sure it was stupidity, not malice