Recently I was ranting about how seven states still ban unmarried couples from living together (at least officially). That list of states is Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.
Today I found something even more worrying - seven states actually forbid an atheist from holding political office, that's Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas (and maybe even New York, but I didn't find the relevant citation from their constitution yet). Until '97 the list also included South Carolina, and Maryland's clause is supposedly voided by the 1961 Torcaso v. Watkins case, but I have to say I'm really surprised to see Maryland and Pennsylvania on the list to this day.
Frankly I'm gobsmacked. I mean screw trying to keep creationims out of science classes, or "under God" out of the pledge, if atheists can't even get representation in 8 out of the 50 states this says something even more rotten about the country. Separation of church and state is basically a laughing stock with this gaping hole in it. This coupled with the fact there aren't any declared atheists in any major political office state should indicate why church and state separatists get really upset.
Remember that the recent Newsweek poll showed that 1 in 3 Americans consider themselves as non-religious and 1 in 10 of under forty year olds actively identify as atheists. That's a huge number of disenfranchised Americans who are prohibited for by law from standing for office in those states because of their religious beliefs, or lack thereof. Combined with the fact, that when pressed most politicians would sooner eat their hat than actively stand up and defend separation of church and state, its easy to conclude that, despite all the rhetoric, atheists have little or no representation in government.
That's not to say I want pro-atheism policies coming out of government, any more than I want pro-faith policies. If Bush can have faith based initiatives then I want no-faith based initiatives - but in reality I want neither. Just get on and govern, and keep God out of it. As it stands the fact that government has since the Nixon times become increasingly polarized towards theism its looking more and more like atheists have a great case to make for taxation without representation, especially in those eight states. I mean why aren't there atheists protesting in the streets in those states and refusing to pay their taxes until the constitution is changed? Probably the problem is that there is no one in government to support their views because they are all afraid to, even if they are closet atheists.
After some digging around I found that the TV show "The West Wing" recently touched on the subject which apparently made quite a few people happy (or angry). In it a Senator (Vinick) is being pressed to attend a church or make some affirmation of his religious beliefs, but refuses to. You can download a clip from it here or read some of the relevant quotes here. The most important statement the Senator makes is:
"I don't see how we can have a separation of church and state in this government if you have to pass a religious test to get in this government. And I want to warn everyone in the press and all the voters out there, if you demand expressions of religious faith from politicians, you are just begging to be lied to. They won't all lie to you but a lot of them will. And it will be the easiest lie they ever had to tell to get your votes. So, every day until the end of this campaign, I'll answer any question anyone has on government, But if you have a question on religion, please go to church."
I think there's a lot of truth in the statement that politicians will lie about their religion and its the easiest lie they will ever tell. I mean compared to admitting they are homosexual, have cheated on their wife/husband, or cheated on their taxes, or taken bribes or are an alcoholic... well its a piece of cake.
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