The way the law now stands in the state to my southwest is that if you don’t believe in God, you could be imprisoned for up to 12 months.
In case you didn’t know, this is a pretty clear violation of the First Amendment.
This is the same state that gave a huge tax break to a creationist theme park.
Now, I’m not saying this to make fun of Kentucky. West Virginia could be just as bad, and it probably will be when the religious-right dominated Republican Party manages to take over the state legislature. I don’t see how that doesn’t happen, and the only reason why West Virginia doesn’t do all the bizarre things that Kentucky does is only because the Republican Party in West Virginia is a joke at the state level.
After this past election, I’m not so sure it’s still the joke it was before. It’s still too wedded to “family values,” but at least it’s opposed to that Muslim coal-hater in the White House.
Keep in mind that the first signs of a culture war in the United States appeared in Kanawha County, West Virginia, where the local ingoranti went apeshit over text books. By apeshit, I mean there were acts of terrorism against the school system for daring to have textbooks that questioned “family values.”
So we’re now ripe for some of the craziness that Kentucky knows so well. I hope Maryland and Ohio don’t shut down the borders for refugees!
In my illustrious home state of South Carolina, it is illegal for an atheist to hold public office.
Feh.
Sound like a couple of good causes for the ACLU.
Oregon is looking better and better every day, isn’t it?
If you move over here, I promise to show you some good hunting spots…
This is not correct. In 1961 the U.S. Supreme court ruled in Torasco vs. Watkins that no state could prohibit any otherwise qualified citizen from holding public office, and that no state could impose any religious test for office.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso_v._Watkins
The states that had those unconstitutional measures in their state constitutions have not removed them simply because they lack the integrity and political courage to do so, but those parts are null and void.
I do not understand why people continue to perpetuate this misinformation.
My 1st comment was supposed to address Anna’s remark. This comment is for “.if you don’t believe in God, you could be imprisoned for up to 12 months.”
This is very misleading. It’s not a year in jail for “not believing in God” at all. It’s a year in jail if someone doesn’t put up a plaque. It’s still silly and unenforceable no doubt, but its better to be more accurate when discussing it. It’s unenforceable because it doesn’t specify any individual is responsible for putting up a plaque. And it’s not questioning belief at all; it does not address belief; it addresses physically putting up a plaque.
This law basically would be no different than requiring a horseshoe over every door. It is not forcing religion on anyone.
LOL.
You’re not serious.
Of course it’s forcing religion on people. It’s requiring a government official to recognize a particular religion, and that is unconstitutional.
Trust me, entities have been sued and lost for far less flagrant examples of religious endorsement in this country, and that’s the way the law is.
If people don’t like it, they can secdee and colonize somewhere else.
It’s a bullshit law, and it’s unconstitutional. If these morons in Frankfort want to believe in superstition that’s fine, but requiring it by law, that’s totally against the US constitution and all the case law regarding it.
It may not be upheld as unconstitutional.by some of the justices.
“At this point, we seem to have 4 political hacks on the court who might as well have been elected by the Tea Party. One thing is for sure: if this case does go to the US Supreme Court, some of the justices will vote to uphold. And that is a sad testament to the state of our “justice” system.”
http://the-reaction.blogspot.com/2012/11/god-aint-on-kentuckys-side.html
Almost like Egypt this very day, with the religeous bigots taking charge.
When I wanted to join the British Boy Scouts movement at the age of eleven I was already a closet aetheist but I repeated the oath, saying I believed in God, otherwise I’d have been thrown out of course. However, all these years later and the religeous part of the oath is being dropped, I’m happy to report.
Does the British organization exclude homosexual parents from serving in leadership positions as does the BSA? We just had a big row here about one of the mothers in a same-sex marriage being barred from serving as a leader for her son’s Tiger Scout troop. From what I read, she was otherwise eminently qualified. (Interestingly the GSA doesn’t discriminate based upon gender orientation–guess its another “guy thing” huh?)
I just checked for a url for this and found: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/22/jennifer-tyrrell-ousted-boy-scouts-den-mother-speaks_n_1443803.html among others.
I hope that the ACLU does take on this asinine law. It’s bad enough to live with the knowledge that we have a creationist theme park.
You might want to contact your local chapter K to see whether its on their agenda.
When was the last time anyone was arrested in Kentucky for not believing in god? Are these blue laws? Or new laws?
For what it is worth, I was just told that the Supreme court ruled that no state could prohibit an otherwise qualified citizen from holding public office, nor could they impose any religious test for office.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso_v._Watkins
Seems logical to me to assume that if the Supreme Court has ruled such provisions to be unconstitutional said provisions would subsequently be stricken from the books. But we are talking about politics here, so logic doesn’t necessarily come into play. I guess its kind of like “SECDEE”ing–sounds really neat but doesn’t work so well in the execution thereof.
I don’t think that this law has actually been applied to anyone – yet. It’s relatively recent (2006 I think). I did not even know about it until earlier this year. It’s part of the “homeland security” laws and reads in part: According to the state Department of Homeland Security, the only way anyone would be subject to jail time or a fine under this law is if they refused to display the plaque on the Homeland Security building.
“The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God as set forth in the public speeches and proclamations of American Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln’s historic March 30, 1863, presidential proclamation urging Americans to pray and fast during one of the most dangerous hours in American history, and the text of President John F. Kennedy’s November 22, 1963, national security speech which concluded: “For as was written long ago: ‘Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.'”
The law requires that plaques celebrating the power of the Almighty God be installed outside the state Homeland Security building. It carries a criminal penalty of up to 12 months in jail if anyone fails to comply. The plaque’s inscription begins with the assertion, “The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.”
The law has already been challenged by the American Atheists. They won the suit but it was overturned on appeal: “Kentucky’s law is a legislative finding, avowed as factual, that the Commonwealth is not safe absent reliance on Almighty God. Further, (the law) places a duty upon the executive director to publicize the assertion while stressing to the public that dependence upon Almighty God is vital, or necessary, in assuring the safety of the commonwealth,” was the Court of Appeals’ dissenting opinion. So far the State Supreme Court has refused to rule on it. But IMO it clearly violates the US Constitutional provision for the separation of church and state.
And the state representative who introduced the damned law is a Democrat! He’s the same one who keeps wasting the state taxpayers’ money fighting to have the Ten Commandments displayed in schools ans courthouses.
So does this mean the director of the Kentucky Homeland Security could go to jail if the sign is taken down? LOL
(and the state representative who introduced the damned law is a Democrat!)
Yep a democrat authored this stupidity, a baptist minister who uses his “faith” like a bludgeon, Yet the good citizens of his district keep electing him,, despite how much money he has cost the taxpayers in lawsuits over his religious zealotry.
All I can say is Wow, Kentucky has a district chock full of Democrats, who knew? (sarcasm intended)
Made a typo in that post. The part that says “According to the state Department of Homeland Security, the only way anyone would be subject to jail time or a fine under this law is if they refused to display the plaque on the Homeland Security building.” should be a separate paragraph, following the third paragraph. Sorry for any confusion.
Bottom-line is that it is political posturing, empty of true content, “…a tale
Told by an idiot (or even worse, a cynic or fanatic), full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”
What is chilling is: 1) that it flies in the face of Constitutional intent; 2) the obvious intention to defraud w/ malice aforethought; and 3) that the kind of person who would propose such rabble-rousing screeds wields so much political influence.
I agree, m. We also have idiots at the national level (Mitch McConnell & Rand Paul) & even though there are probably twice as many Democrats as Republicans. People keep electing idiots who tell them what their preachers are telling them every Sunday (evolution couldn’t be true, Islam’s stated objective is to destroy Christianity, our President is a Muslim, etc.). Not all of the ministers preach those things, but I’d wager the majority do.