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Quote# 88469

Sec. 4. RELIGIOUS TESTS. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.

Texas, Texas state constitution, Article I 61 Comments [7/22/2012 5:16:50 AM]
Fundie Index: 73
Submitted By: emau99
WTF?! || meh
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#1426346
VoiceofKane

Wait, what? No atheists allowed in Texas?

7/22/2012 5:26:53 AM
#1426347
breakerslion

Does Uma Thurman count?

7/22/2012 5:34:44 AM
#1426353
OhJohnNo

"...provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."

*headdesk*

7/22/2012 6:01:48 AM
#1426354
Justanotheratheist

They can have any colour they like, as long as it's black...

7/22/2012 6:03:24 AM
#1426355
Kisare

Wait...is that seriously in their Constitution?! ....Just when I thought Texas could sink no lower. For shame.

7/22/2012 6:05:11 AM
#1426357
Filin De Blanc

Wait, how did this happen? Did someone seriously secretly amend the Texas constitution?

7/22/2012 6:09:11 AM
#1426359
checkmate

provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.

Well, it looks like I'm on board.

1. I'm male (it says "he").

2: I believe in a Supreme Being:


7/22/2012 6:11:14 AM
#1426379
Horsefeathers

In other words, you can run for office and we won't ask if you believe in god or not, as long as you believe in god and acknowledge it publicly so that we know for sure.

I'd personally love to see this challenged and then see the Supreme Court force Texas to amend it for being unconstitutional. It's just that it's Texas so nobody has bothered to challenge it yet, which would be tantamount to stating you're an atheist--or a Muslim--neither of which would get you elected, so everybody keeps their mouth shut.

7/22/2012 6:35:00 AM
#1426381
Jeff Weskamp

"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office...

"...provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."

And just how will the State of Texas learn if the candidate believes in a "Supreme Being?"

By using a religious test.

7/22/2012 6:37:54 AM
#1426387
Draken

Well ok, if you insist. I was thinking of Cthulhu.

7/22/2012 6:43:58 AM
#1426388
Cae

When you think your state can't embarrass you any more then it has . . .

7/22/2012 6:44:00 AM
#1426394
anevilmeme

Contradict much?


Just wait until that gets challenged in a Federal Court.

7/22/2012 6:48:55 AM
#1426395
Stonespiral

No religious test.. except for the religious test.

Nice.

7/22/2012 6:51:00 AM
#1426398
Brendan Rizzo

Talk about doublethink. Why America, why?! Does any country in Europe have religious tests for office? There truly is no hope for American secularism, is there.

I think I should take a break from FSTDT for a little bit, because I think the fundies are driving me crazy. Their claims are actually starting to make sense, even though I know perfectly well that they are complete bollocks. After all, how can we rationalists be sure that our methods are better than theirs? On their own fora, the fundies laugh at us rational people in the very same way that we mock them here. I think the sheer stupidity of current American politicians is making me go off the deep end. I need to clear my head in order to deal with all this extreme wingnuttery.

7/22/2012 6:54:29 AM
#1426402
Robespierre

Actually a lot of 18th century deists were pretty bigoted against atheists - like Voltaire, who also happened to be a racist, homophobic antifeminist (just using him as example). The watchmaker analogy and the appeal to morality to "prove" god are originally deist stuff, not fundie. It's probably a bad idea to idealise people from 2-3 hundred years ago, no matter how ahead of their time.

Edit: oh yes, Robespierre was an asshole too of course.

7/22/2012 6:55:35 AM
#1426409
Reynardine

'Scuse me?

7/22/2012 7:03:31 AM
#1426422
Arctic Knight

" no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
US Constitution, Article VI, para 3

"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."
US Constitution, Article VI, Clause 2

The US Constitution trumps the Texas Constitution in all matters where there is a conflict.

7/22/2012 7:13:36 AM
#1426436
OhJohnNo

@Brendan: Exactly what I was thinking. You've been slowly going insane due to this site - I suggest use ChromeNanny to block it for a bit (like I did with the Guardian's music section, because of the fucking comments), then come back when you think you can take it again.

7/22/2012 7:40:22 AM
#1426438
ShadowNet

All praise the FSM! May his noodley appendages touch your heart!

Ramen!

7/22/2012 7:46:45 AM
#1426441
ChakatBlackstar

So...if I worship Princess Celestia is that okay with Texas?

7/22/2012 7:51:34 AM
#1426448
Nerikull

Was this written under the authority of the Department of Redundancy Department?

7/22/2012 8:07:04 AM
#1426504
Nagol

Texas is really messed up.

7/22/2012 9:26:30 AM
#1426509
Doubting Thomas

I'm actually surprised that the Texas constitution doesn't say that no religious test for office will be required as long as the candidate acknowledges Jesus as personal lord and savior.

7/22/2012 9:32:38 AM
#1426537
freako104

There is a contradiction there.

7/22/2012 10:06:04 AM
#1426548
Darwin

So female atheists are okay. Glad we got that settled.

Now, if Obama became an atheist and got a sex change, could she... oh no, there's that 'black' thing. Sorry.

7/22/2012 10:31:41 AM
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