No white house for andrew cuomo.
JAMIN B. (JAMIE) RASKIN
Democrat, District 20, Montgomery County
- James Senate Office Building, Room 122
11 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 841-3634, (301) 858-3634
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3634 (toll free)
e-mail: jamie.raskin@senate.state.md.us
fax: (410) 841-3166, (301) 858-3166
ANNAPOLIS,
Md. — A bookkeeper named Roy Torcaso, who happened to be an atheist,
refused to declare that he believed in God in order to serve as a notary
public in Maryland. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and
in 1961 the court ruled unanimously for Mr. Torcaso, saying states could not have a “religious test” for public office.
But
53 years later, Maryland and six other states still have articles in
their constitutions saying people who do not believe in God are not
eligible to hold public office. Maryland’s Constitution still says belief in God is a requirement even for jurors and witnesses.
Now
a coalition of nonbelievers says it is time to get rid of the atheist
bans because they are discriminatory, offensive and unconstitutional.
The bans are unenforceable dead letters, legal experts say, and state
and local governments have rarely invoked them in recent years. But for
some secular Americans, who are increasingly visible and organized,
removing the bans is not only a just cause, but a test of their growing
movement’s political clout.
Todd Stiefel, the chairman and primary funder of the Openly Secular
coalition, said: “If it was on the books that Jews couldn’t hold public
office, or that African-Americans or women couldn’t vote, that would be
a no-brainer. You’d have politicians falling all over themselves to try
to get it repealed. Even if it was still unenforceable, it would still
be disgraceful and be removed. So why are we different?”
It
would be unthinkable for such “naked bigotry” against white people or
Presbyterians or Catholics to go unnoticed if state constitutions still
contained it, said Rob Boston, director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State,
an advocacy group. “Right now we hear a lot of talk from conservative
Christians about their being persecuted and their being forced to
accommodate same-sex marriage.
But there’s nothing in the state constitutions that targets Christians
like these provisions do about nonbelievers,” Mr. Boston said.
The
six states besides Maryland with language in their constitutions that
prohibits people who do not believe in God from holding office are
Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and
Texas.
Mississippi’s
Constitution says, “No person who denies the existence of a Supreme
Being shall hold any office in this state.” North Carolina’s says, “The
following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person
who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”
Pennsylvania’s
Constitution contains no prohibition, but does say that no one can be
“disqualified” from serving in office on the basis of religion — as long
as they believe in God “and a future state of rewards and punishments”
(a reference to heaven and hell).
Article VI of the United States Constitution says no “religious test” should ever be required for federal office.
And
since the Supreme Court’s decision in the Torcaso case, states have
clearly been prohibited from making belief in God a requirement for
public office, said Ira C. Lupu, an emeritus professor at George
Washington University Law School who specializes in church-and-state
issues. Mr. Lupu said of the language in the state constitutions: “Of
course they shouldn’t be in there. They’re all unconstitutional. They
can’t be enforced.”
But
there has been no political will to rescind these articles. “Which
politician was going to get up and say, ‘We’re really going to clean
this up’?” he said.
The
state bans have been invoked rarely since 1992, according to legal
experts. In South Carolina that year, Herb Silverman, a math professor
at the College of Charleston who is an atheist activist, was denied a
position as a notary public. His case went to the South Carolina Supreme
Court, and in 1997 he won. In North Carolina, after Cecil Bothwell, a writer, won a seat on the Asheville City Council in 2009, his opponents tried to invoke the State Constitution’s atheist ban to deny him his seat, but they soon backed down.
Organizers
with Openly Secular see the bans as evidence of the quiet bigotry and
discrimination faced by many atheists, agnostics, humanists and
freethinkers. They point to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center this year showing that nearly half of Americans would disapprove if a family member married an atheist.
Pew
also found that 53 percent of Americans polled in April said they would
be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate they knew was an
atheist. Being an atheist was found to be the least desirable trait a
candidate could have — worse than having cheated on a spouse or used
marijuana.
The
Openly Secular coalition, which includes 30 groups and was formed this
year, is trying to win greater acceptance for nonbelievers by
encouraging them to go public. Taking a page from the gay rights
campaign called It Gets Better,
the coalition has posted short video testimonies from people who
declare that they are happily nonbelievers. Among those who have
recorded videos are former Representative Barney Frank and Chris Kluwe, a
former punter for the Minnesota Vikings.
Now
the coalition plans to lobby legislators in the seven states, plus
Pennsylvania, to rid the constitutions of the discriminatory language.
The process of changing the constitution is different in each state, but
the first hurdle will be finding legislators willing to stand up for
nonbelievers.
In
Maryland, one state senator has already been hearing from constituents
who want the atheist ban removed. Jamie B. Raskin, the Democratic
majority whip, is also a professor of constitutional law at American
University.
In
an interview, Mr. Raskin said the constitutional provision was
inconsistent with Maryland’s history as a refuge for Catholics fleeing
persecution and a haven of religious tolerance. He foresees an attempt
to remove the atheist ban as part of a broader overhaul and
modernization of the State Constitution. But the next opportunity for a
referendum on whether to hold a constitutional convention in which
changes could be made is not until 2020, he said.
Paging
through a copy of the State Constitution, he said the atheist ban was
only part of the “flotsam and jetsam” that needed to be wiped from the
document. “It’s an obsolete but lingering insult to people,” he said.
“In
the breathtaking pluralism of American religious and social life,
politicians have to pay attention to secularists just the same as
everybody else,” Mr. Raskin said. “If a Mormon can run for president and
Muslims can demand official school holidays, surely the secularists can
ask the states for some basic constitutional manners.”
But
there may be some resistance from legislators who see the effort to
remove the clauses as sensible, but politically and symbolically
unpalatable.
Christopher
B. Shank, the Republican minority whip in the Maryland Senate, said
that while he believed in pluralism, “I think what they want is an
affirmation that the people of the state of Maryland don’t care about
the Christian faith, and that is a little offensive.”
CHRISTOPHER B. SHANK
Republican, District 2, Washington County
Stop scratching on holidays
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Email: info AT stiefelfreethoughtfoundation DOT org. Phone:
Area code: 919. Number: 335-5392. This is our Google Voicemail box. A
machine will answer the call and a text transcript of your message will
be sent to us. (We receive many inquiries and are unable to respond to
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from SFF will be ignored; we simply get too many requests for money.)
Sorry for the crazy contact formatting, it is designed to keep spammers at bay.
Stiefel Freethought Foundation
c/o Foundation Source
501 Silverside Road, Suite 123
Wilmington, DE 19809-1377
Stop scratching on holidays
CHRISTOPHER B. SHANK
Republican, District 2, Washington County
- James Senate Office Building, Room 402 (for Jan. 2012, temporarily in Room 311)
11 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 841-3903, (301) 858-3903
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3903 (toll free)
e-mail: christopher.shank@senate.state.md.us
fax: (410) 841-3940, (301) 858-3940 1260 Maryland Ave., Suite 102B, Hagerstown, MD 21740
(301) 733-5540; fax: (301) 733-5563
HI-
Thanks for
the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy,
if you give me a mailing address.
Claude
Solnik
(631)
913-4244
Long
Island
Business News
2150
Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI
Confidential > Stop
scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Sorry for the crazy contact formatting, it is designed to keep spammers at bay.
Stiefel Freethought Foundation
c/o Foundation Source
501 Silverside Road, Suite 123
Wilmington, DE 19809-1377
HI-
Thanks for
the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy,
if you give me a mailing address.
Claude
Solnik
(631)
913-4244
Long
Island
Business News
2150
Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI
Confidential > Stop
scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
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