North Carolina Tries to Establish State-Sponsored Religion

... because, apparently, the Constitution doesn't prohibit it. No, seriously, that's their reasoning -

http://www.ncleg.net/Applications/Bi...

A JOINT RESOLUTION TO PROCLAIM THE ROWAN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA,
2 DEFENSE OF RELIGION ACT OF 2013.
3 Whereas, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution of
4 the United States reads:"…Congress shall make no law respecting an Establishment of
5 Religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;…"; and
6 Whereas, this prohibition does not apply to states, municipalities, or schools; and
7 Whereas, in recent times, the federal judiciary has incorporated states,
8 municipalities, and schools into the Establishment Clause prohibitions on Congress; and
9 Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads: "The
10 powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
11 are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.";

Lines 31 - 37 are the best, though -

31 SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution
32 of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws
33 respecting an establishment of religion.
34 SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal
35 court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public
36 schools, or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an
37 establishment of religion.

I've always been a state's rights guy in the sense that smaller municipalities should have some latitude in deciding for themselves about a great many things that can vary from region to region. The United States is a very large, diverse place, so I always figured this was healthy, to a point. Folks like this, though... just wow. "We declare federal law doesn't apply to us, because... well. We don't want it to." I'm curious how far this will go.

I don't think it's going to go anywhere. I bet it's some knuckle dragging evangelical proposing it to get some points with the locals.

Yeah, it reeks of showboating, but so far it seems to have twelve sponsors behind the two folks who proposed it.

I hope it succeeds just to see the reaction of the various christian sects when their particular brand of christianity isn't the one that's chosen.

billt721 wrote:

I hope it succeeds just to see the reaction of the various christian sects when their particular brand of christianity isn't the one that's chosen.

Right? How delighted would the bills sponsors be to see, say, Michigan, select Islam as it's state religion?

We would be amazed at the hamtramck lobby, that's for sure.

Prior to 1947, and that is being generous to North Carolina given my wackadoo philosophy, I would agree. I am one of those nutty complete incorporationists who would argue that all parts of the US Constitution became binding on states with the passage of the 14th amendment.

billt721 wrote:

I hope it succeeds just to see the reaction of the various christian sects when their particular brand of christianity isn't the one that's chosen.

...you, my sir, are a genius, where's my DVR remote, I want to record all the news programs after this passes. I expect a great many amusing links here as well!

I have no real comment other than to emote a *facepalm*

Tyrian wrote:

I have no real comment other than to emote a *facepalm*

Pretty much. I liked their line about not being bound by court decisions. I'm sure a lot of convicts would like to be able to do the same thing. Maybe they can all appeal in NC saying they don't want to be bound by the state's laws and courts anymore.

Demosthenes wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

I have no real comment other than to emote a *facepalm*

Pretty much. I liked their line about not being bound by court decisions. I'm sure a lot of convicts would like to be able to do the same thing. Maybe they can all appeal in NC saying they don't want to be bound by the state's laws and courts anymore. :P

1821

KingGorilla wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

I have no real comment other than to emote a *facepalm*

Pretty much. I liked their line about not being bound by court decisions. I'm sure a lot of convicts would like to be able to do the same thing. Maybe they can all appeal in NC saying they don't want to be bound by the state's laws and courts anymore. :P

1821

That is far too technical. I just mean, hey, if the state can ignore the courts above them, why can't we as citizens ignore the courts above us too?

All of the lawmakers who are against the bill should vote for it. Make the sponsors vote against it to kill their show-boating, or force the governor to veto it, or drag the thing into the courts to be gavel-murdered. Let the stupid ideas loose for a few months and remind all of the idiots why we have these rules in the first place.

Looks like those pesky Pastafarians are at it again. Are there no end to their noodley attempts at world domination?

Nomad wrote:

Looks like those pesky Pastafarians are at it again. Are there no end to their noodley attempts at world domination?

I'm really hoping some college students in the state or some other group starts a write in campaign on a public vote on which should be the established religion and get exactly that official.

Or that out of nowhere like Judaism wins and then the Evangelical Republicans go nuts!

Popehat has a good analysis of the situation.

I almost hope they get this one to the Supreme Court. Even Scalia is going to have them for lunch.

momgamer wrote:

Popehat has a good analysis of the situation.

I almost hope they get this one to the Supreme Court. Even Scalia is going to have them for lunch.

That is a good analysis, thanks for the link.

It seems to me that this bill is just a symptom of certain Christians feeling threatened by growing secularism in this country.

MacBrave wrote:
momgamer wrote:

Popehat has a good analysis of the situation.

I almost hope they get this one to the Supreme Court. Even Scalia is going to have them for lunch.

That is a good analysis, thanks for the link.

It seems to me that this bill is just a symptom of certain Christians feeling threatened by growing secularism in this country.

I don't wonder if the growing secularism in this country is a symptom of agnostic/atheists feeling threatened by certain Christians.

Christians always have and always will feel persecuted by someone or something. That's the - admittedly elegant - structure of the religion. Even when they are the sole power, it's designed to make its adherents feel attacked.

Edit: what a missed opportunity for a spectacular pun. Soul power. Hahaha.

They will bow to me. Muahaha!!

momgamer wrote:

Popehat has a good analysis of the situation.

I almost hope they get this one to the Supreme Court. Even Scalia is going to have them for lunch.

If this, or the state abortion bills mentioned elsewhere make it to a Circuit court, let alone the Court of Appeals or SCOTUS, I will be utterly shocked. The high court still has tons of procedural egg on its face from Prop 8.

It is along the lines of saying California's many attempts at videogame censorship should make it to the high court, just won't happen.

This is embarrassing to me as a NC resident, as an American, as a human being.

As we were driving to the in-laws for Easter, I thought about the declining role of religion in our country. I presented this question to my wife:

"Someone dies and rises from the dead 3 days later. That person is..."

Her immediate response was "a zombie". I'd be very curious as to how many people across the country today would say "zombie" and how many people say "Jesus Christ".

Crap, I need to see if I can still get half off Easter candy!

Mmm. Zombie candy.

Oh what I wouldn't do to be able to move to NC with a million voting age muslim friends. I can see the headlines: "North Carolina First State to Implement Sharia Law"

KingGorilla wrote:

Crap, I need to see if I can still get half off Easter candy!

My local stores were picked over pretty bad on Monday. I went to get Starburst Jellybeans and some Cadburry eggs for my wife and both were empty as could be.

It's dead Jim.

A House resolution supporting the creation of an official religion in North Carolina will never come to a vote, officials said Thursday.

House Speaker Thom Tillis' office said House Joint Resolution 494 was dead.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

It's dead Jim.

A House resolution supporting the creation of an official religion in North Carolina will never come to a vote, officials said Thursday.

House Speaker Thom Tillis' office said House Joint Resolution 494 was dead.

But, now their senate is trying to institute an actual poll tax on college students. Man, North Carolina's on fire.

This is something for another/it's own thread but I'm lazy.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

It's dead Jim.

A House resolution supporting the creation of an official religion in North Carolina will never come to a vote, officials said Thursday.

House Speaker Thom Tillis' office said House Joint Resolution 494 was dead.

But, now their senate is trying to institute an actual poll tax on college students. Man, North Carolina's on fire.

This is something for another/it's own thread but I'm lazy.

Oxford, OH tried to do something similar one year. Then all the college students flushed their toilets at midnight, crippling the town's water supply until later in the day. The general gist of the message (which was hilarious that this rural town just DID NOT GET IT) was that hey, we're a part of your town. Your town relies upon this school for a great many jobs both skilled and unskilled, so how about you treat the school with the respect you want to be treated with? Even more funny in that the university's students were pretty conservative as a whole... so even pre-Obama, they were more than willing to vote Republican by and large.

Seth wrote:

Christians always have and always will feel persecuted by someone or something.

Funny that I've never felt that way. I guess I'm not Christian enough.