Friday, November 23, 2012

Kentucky Law Requires Its Citizens to Affirm God; Law Has Been Upheld by KY State Court of Appeals

In Kentucky, a homeland security law requires the state's citizens to acknowledge the security provided by the Almighty God -- or risk 12 months in prison -- the Alter Net website reports today (November 23, 2012).

The law and its sponsor -- state representative and Baptist minister Tom Riner -- have been the subject of controversy since the law first surfaced in 2006, yet the state Supreme Court has refused to review its constitutionality, despite clearly violating the First Amendment's separation of church and state.

"This is one of the most egregiously and breathtakingly unconstitutional actions by a state legislature that I've ever seen," said Edwin Kagin, the legal director of American Atheists -- a national organization focused on defending the civil rights of atheists.

American Atheists launched a lawsuit against the law in 2008, which won at the Circuit Court level, but was then overturned by the state Court of Appeals.

2 comments:

  1. As a resident of Kentucky I've experienced the resistance of fellow Kentuckians to anti-God ideologies and their advocates, most of which are not citizens of Kentucky. We don't like outsiders telling us what to believe. Most Kentuckians have no trouble placing their trust in Almighty God, at least on a theoretic level. They don't trust Obama, whose religious views they suspect. They don't trust the federal government which has undermined the civil rights of Americans and intruded on our privacy and freedom of religion.

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  2. Your comments are really sad and unfortunate, Alice. I hope you feel better soon.

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