Did you know that atheists, and even Buddhists, Taoists, and others who do not believe in a “Supreme Being,” cannot hold public office in Texas? This is one right that even gays and lesbians even have (as long as they are of an appropriate faith)!

Section 4 of the The Texas Constitution’s Bill of Rights says:

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.

Excuse me? I’m a bit confused about where to start on this one. My first thought is that this makes Texas, at least in “spirit” (pun intended), a theocracy.

Interestingly, the section on Freedom of Worship (Section 6) offers a similar contradiction between freedom of religion and a religious litmus test. It says:

All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences. No man shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent. No human authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or interfere with the rights of conscience in matters of religion, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious society or mode of worship. But it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to protect equally every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship.

The mistake here is that religion is being defined to universally include belief in an almighty, supreme being. Not all religions, or people, believe in such a being. Religion is simply a coming together, not necessarily a focus on an all-powerful creator or controller.

Interestingly, several years ago the Boy Scouts of America discontinued the Unitarian Universalist “Religion and Life” badge based on the judgment that Unitarian Universalists don’t believe in God. Well, some do and some don’t. More to the point, the BSA retained the Buddhist religion badge, but Buddhists have no concept of a supreme being either. What gives?

Just to be clear, unless we choose to ignore the words, the Texas Constitution clearly establishes a religious test for public office in the same sentence that it says none can be established, and guarantees freedom of worship only for those who are worshipping God.

When will we be able to undo these trappings of institutional discrimination and truly embrace religious pluralism and diversity? We are not an exclusively monotheistic theocratic nation or state, and yet we continually institutionalize and constitutionalize such ideas.

By the way…three down and forty seven to go for establishing full rights for all loving couples…Way to go Connecticut!

Blessings,

Rev. Matt