Last month, I wrote about the six states that disallow atheists from running for public office. In at least one of these states this might change. P.Z. Myers at Pharyngula pointed out that Rep. Richard Carroll introduced a bill in the Arkansas State Assembly to allow atheists to run for public office and testify as witnesses in court. If you live in Arkansas please contact your representatives in the Assembly and let them know you support the bill.
- Author: SDR
- Published: Feb 18th, 2009
- Category: Government/Politics
- Comments: 2
arkansas
on Apr 1st, 2009
@ 2:34 pm:
As an atheist, I do not agree with the bill. I think that in order to run for public office, one must have a verified religious belief. It is paramount to the duties of the office. I believe atheists should be able to testify as a witness in court though because atheists are the best truth tellers.
SDR
on Apr 1st, 2009
@ 3:53 pm:
arkansas,
Although I have approved your comment, I can’t help but suspect you are not being truthful in your comment about being an atheist.
1. You claim you are an atheist, yet you say atheists should not be allowed to run for public office. Why would anyone want to not have an important civil right?
2. You continue on to say that verified (how would this be done?) religious beliefs are “paramount to the duties of the office.” You give no reasoning or evidence to back up such an assertion. This, like the last point, makes no sense coming from someone who is, in fact, an atheist.
3. It’s not fair, nor is there any reason I have seen to conclude that “atheists are the best truth tellers.” Are you then implying the religious people are by nature prone to lying? That is ridiculous and frankly bigoted against the religious – exactly the type of bigotry we are trying to end against atheists.
Or now that I think about it maybe this entire comment is an April fools joke. Your comments make no sense and completely contradict each other. It’s got to be an April fools joke, in which case I feel silly for responding at such length.