Atheist group pushing to get rid of state bans

ANNAPOLIS, Md. —More than 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that states could not have a “religious test” for public office, Maryland and six other states still have articles in their constitutions saying people who do not believe in God are not eligible to work for the state. Maryland’s Constitution 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, removing the bans is not only a just cause, but a test of their growing movement’s political clout.

Todd Stiefel, 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 You’d have politicians falling all over themselves to try to get it repealed.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?”

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.”

Article VI of the U.S. Constitution says no “religious test” should ever be required for federal office.

And since the Supreme Court’s decision in the 1961 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.

But there has been no political will to rescind these articles.

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.