Official State Religion in North Carolina?

[HYHYBT]

There's a bill proposing exactly that, and never mind the Constitution and two centuries of precedent: apparently they don't count.

http://www.wral.com/proposal-would-a...lina/12296876/

[Jaden]

Wow. That's really disturbing. I can't imagine this getting anywhere, but just the fact the some fuckwits thought they could do it is bad enough.

[Hyena Dandy]

"The Constitution of the United States does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal courts the power to determine what is or is not constitutional; therefore, by virtue of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the power to determine constitutionality and the proper interpretation and proper application of the Constitution is reserved to the states and to the people," the bill states. "Each state in the union is sovereign and may independently determine how that state may make laws respecting an establishment of religion."

And then, they tried that, but 66 years later, the Supreme Court ruled...

"The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another."

Wait, no, I got that wrong.

The Supreme Court made that decision in 1947, and then 66 years LATER someone tried this bullshit.

[indigo]

Right wing nutjobs trying to get re-elected mainly. School boards and local governments are losing lawsuits over prayer in public school functions and in governmental meetings so this is how they try to "get back" at us godless heathens who dared to speak up.

What I think is sad is that they're wasting time and money on an issue they're never going to win instead of doing something useful with it.

[HYHYBT]

It's been stopped. The House Speaker, I think it was, said there's no way he'll let this come to a vote.

[RedRoseSpiral]

I can't wait until I'm out of this country. This shit just keeps getting worse and worse.

[Panacea]

Right wing nutjobs trying to get re-elected mainly. School boards and local governments are losing lawsuits over prayer in public school functions and in governmental meetings so this is how they try to "get back" at us godless heathens who dared to speak up. .

The sponsors say the issue really isn't so much to impose Christianity on the state as a whole, but to enable the county commissioners of Rowan County to continue to hold invocations before their weekly meetings that end with, "In Jesus name, Amen."

They've been told many times they can't do that, and the ACLU is threatening to take them to court. They know they'll lose, so they were trying to get around it with this crap. Unfortunately the bill, even if passed, would not trump federal law which is already well established on this issue. It was a DUMB idea from the get go.

Lord, the people in my state make my head hurt sometimes. There are a lot of people who've moved here (me among them) from more liberal states, and the ultra cons are getting out numbered . . . and they're quaking in their boots because power is slipping away from them, and they're no longer being indulged in their bigotry and exclusionary practices.

It's been stopped. The House Speaker, I think it was, said there's no way he'll let this come to a vote.

Thom Tillis. A complete and utter asshat. He would have let the bill come to a vote if it hadn't hit the news and caused an uproar. Killing it was simple self preservation on his part.

[HYHYBT]

Thom Tillis. A complete and utter asshat. He would have let the bill come to a vote if it hadn't hit the news and caused an uproar. Killing it was simple self preservation on his part.

Probably. Still, I'll take doing the right thing for the wrong reason over doing the wrong thing on principle.

[smileyeagle1021]

Right wing nutjobs trying to get re-elected mainly. School boards and local governments are losing lawsuits over prayer in public school functions and in governmental meetings so this is how they try to "get back" at us godless heathens who dared to speak up.

There is an old saying, democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner, a constitutional republic is two wolves and a well armed sheep. This is just another sign that the wolves aren't happy that the sheep are learning about their ability to fight back.

[Panacea]

Probably. Still, I'll take doing the right thing for the wrong reason over doing the wrong thing on principle.

There is an old saying, democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner, a constitutional republic is two wolves and a well armed sheep. This is just another sign that the wolves aren't happy that the sheep are learning about their ability to fight back.

True enough.

Conservatives in my state see themselves as the sheep and not the wolves, which is the problem.

[PepperElf]

I'm not entirely against this. but i'll explain why.

Congress shall make no law respecting an Establishment of Religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

Meaning that the government cannot establish a religion - nor can they ban one either. To me it sounds like they're pretty much saying, "stop telling us not to pray - the 1A allows us to pray if we want."

Conservatives in my state see themselves as the sheep and not the wolves, which is the problem.

Considering all conservatives as wolves is a bit unjust really. Not to mention that just because you might see them as "wolves" doesn't mean they don't have the same rights to free speech that you might grant to "sheep".

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

Meaning that the government cannot establish a religion - nor can they ban one either. To me it sounds like they're pretty much saying, "stop telling us not to pray - the 1A allows us to pray if we want."

Isn't the point that these invocations remove the "if we want" part of the equation? If you don't want to pray, being required to take part in a group invocation isn't a choice.

In the end though, I've been to Rowan county. This really was just political grandstanding because of a heavily Christian electorate. Rowan county would not have voted it forward even if it had come to the floor. They were not going to pay for lawyers to trial balloon this thing through the courts.

[Duelist925]

I'm not entirely against this. but i'll explain why.



Meaning that the government cannot establish a religion - nor can they ban one either. To me it sounds like they're pretty much saying, "stop telling us not to pray - the 1A allows us to pray if we want."

There is literally nothing stopping them from praying. They can pray to their hearts content. They can pray to every god, devil, and etc ever mentioned anywhere.

They just can't force anyone else to pray to their particular god.

Considering all conservatives as wolves is a bit unjust really. Not to mention that just because you might see them as "wolves" doesn't mean they don't have the same rights to free speech that you might grant to "sheep".

Noones suggesting otherwise.

The issue is, the "wolves" want to silence the "sheep" as it were.

[indigo]

It's not just Rowan County - Stokes County is getting hit with a lawsuit as well. http://www.wxii12.com/news/local-new...z/-/index.html

Basic gist is that the school board is opening with prayer, graduation includes several prayers, and they have a religious service that certain students are required to attend for a grade.

[PepperElf]

in my opinion and invocation is not forcing others to pray. no one's being told "you have to pray". if someone doesn't want to pray then... well then they can think of spaghetti while the invoker is praying.


part of me wonders if the issue is more along the lines of "you're not being told you can't pray - you just have to be silent about it"