North Carolina: Church and State

Earlier this week I posted on North Carolina submitting legislation that would allow for the creation of a State Religion:

I can’t imagine that this bill will pass into law.  In fact, I have no idea what the point of the legislation is about.

Well, it turns out that the bill won’t become law after all, in fact, it won’t even make it for a vote:

RALEIGH — The resolution that would assert North Carolina and its counties have the right to declare an official religion won’t be voted on, the office of House Speaker Thom Tillis said Thursday. That means it’s essentially dead.

Further, and I didn’t catch this at first:

Resolutions like the Defense of Religion Act do not become law if they are passed. They are generally used to honor dignitaries or groups, or to launch commissions to study issues.

It was never meant to actually BECOME law, just make a point.

And the legislators who submitted the resolution?

SALISBURY, N.C. — One of the North Carolina legislators who sponsored a resolution declaring the state can make its own laws about religion without involvement from the federal government and courts is apologizing for any embarrassment to his community and state.

Warren says he only intended to allow Rowan County officials to continue opening meetings with prayer, not to establish a state religion. The American Civil Liberties Union sued county commissioners last month, accusing the panel of violating the First Amendment by routinely praying to Jesus Christ.

Whatever else the bill/resolution did or didn’t say, I have to add that I think a small community, even a county, should be able to open their meetings with a prayer to whoever they wanna pray to.  What they cannot do is to force everyone in that community to offer the same prayer to the same divine.

3 responses to “North Carolina: Church and State

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  2. I have to add that I think a small community, even a county, should be able to open their meetings with a prayer to whoever they wanna pray to. What they cannot do is to force everyone in that community to offer the same prayer to the same divine.

    I assume that you think it’s okay simply because it’s a small community and thus more homogeneous than, say, the whole country. But doesn’t that just increase the ostracization of people who aren’t part of the dominant faith? A muslim in a heavily muslim area of Detroit probably doesn’t feel as “outside” when he sees Congress bring a christian chaplain in compared to a muslim in a small southern town that is 97% christian when his city council meeting start with the lord’s prayer.

    • I assume that you think it’s okay simply because it’s a small community and thus more homogeneous than, say, the whole country.

      Well, because….yeah, I guess. It’s more likely that the community is the same, exactly as you mention.

      And I get that that has nothing to do with the legality of the whole thing.

      I’ve never studied it, but I think that people have survived through times by banding together and uniting in common causes. Some or families, others are leaders or chieftains, others yet are religion. I think at some point we have to let these towns, communities and perhaps even states, lead their cultures in ways that work for them.

      A muslim in a heavily muslim area of Detroit probably doesn’t feel as “outside” when he sees Congress bring a christian chaplain in compared to a muslim in a small southern town that is 97% christian when his city council meeting start with the lord’s prayer.

      Again, without knowing any such Muslims in a small town, I would have to think that any open minded human finding himself in such a situation would at least have to agree that such a custom is in no way exclusionary, simply a reflection of the makeup of the community?

      If I moved to a small town in a Buddhist tradition, I think that I would do so knowing that my Christian faith would have to be served by myself alone, most likely only in my home. While I would hope that they wouldn’t persecute me for identifying Christian, I wouldn’t expect them to accommodate my faith either.

      And I think that’s the larger point of the founders. That we won’t force a religion or persecute one either.

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