Subj: Re: [ChaletKuyper] Canada - a sad day (pluralism) 
Date: 5/24/2002 7:31:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: mimidjn@earthlink.net
Reply-to: ChaletKuyper@yahoogroups.com
To: ChaletKuyper@yahoogroups.com
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On 5/22/02 10:03 AM, "Brian Burchett" <bburchet@darwin.helios.nd.edu> wrote:

>> Not a single state in the union permitted atheists
>> to hold office.

I am not really a part of this conversations, but I am wondering if all the
states require confession of belief in God.

Thanks.

In Christ Jesus,
Donna
Cybershelter Worker
Subj: Re: [ChaletKuyper] Canada - a sad day (pluralism) 
Date: 5/24/2002 7:38:09 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: bburchet@darwin.helios.nd.edu
Reply-to: ChaletKuyper@yahoogroups.com
To: ChaletKuyper@yahoogroups.com
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In 1787, yes.  In 2002, no.

:-)

On Fri, 24 May 2002, Donna Newton wrote:

>Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 07:37:47 -0700
>From: Donna Newton <mimidjn@earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: ChaletKuyper@yahoogroups.com
>To: Chalet-K Cybershelter <ChaletKuyper@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: Re: [ChaletKuyper] Canada - a sad day (pluralism)
>
>On 5/22/02 10:03 AM, "Brian Burchett" <bburchet@darwin.helios.nd.edu> wrote:

Actually Kevin ...

>>> Not a single state in the union permitted atheists
>>> to hold office.
>
>I am not really a part of this conversations, but I am wondering if all the
>states require confession of belief in God.
>
Subj: Re: [ChaletKuyper] Canada - a sad day (pluralism) 
Date: 5/24/2002 9:46:35 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Kevin4VFT@aol.com
Reply-to: ChaletKuyper@yahoogroups.com
To: ChaletKuyper@yahoogroups.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)


In a message dated 5/24/2002 7:31:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time, mimidjn@earthlink.net writes:



I am not really a part of this conversation,


you are now! ;-)


but I am wondering if all the
states require confession of belief in God.


At the time the Constitution was ratified, all the
states required belief in God in order to take an oath,
including the oath of office. The New York Spectator of
August 23d, 1831, gives a representative report:

The court of common pleas of Chester county (New York), a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked, that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of God; that this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court of justice: and that he knew of no cause in a Christian country, where a witness had been permitted to testify without such belief.


It is, therefore, not surprising that the South Carolina Supreme Court is reported to have noted in 1848 that

"In the courts over which we preside, we daily acknowledge Christianity as the most solemn part of our administration. A Christian witness, having no religious scruples against placing his hand upon the Book, is sworn upon the holy Evangelists -- the books of the New Testament, which testify of our Savior's birth, life, death and resurrection; this is so common a matter that it is little thought of as an evidence of the part which Christianity has in the common law."


See:

http://members.aol.com/TestOath/21atheists.htm

As America began straying from its Christian roots,
atheists and infidels were gradually permitted to
hold office. Some states resisted this secular trend,
but in 1961 the U.S. Supreme Court imposed the trend
when it held that the provisions in state constitutions
which required belief in God from all public office holders
were "unconstitutional" (which would have surprised
those who wrote the Constitution).

http://members.aol.com/TestOath/Torcaso.htm

Personally, I feel that an atheist should be allowed
to testify in court, especially if an atheist were the
only witness to the theft of my goods! But an atheist
should neither be allowed nor forced to take an oath,
since an oath is a statement made to and in the name
of God.

http://members.aol.com/TestOath/20name.htm

The jurors can then decide whether or not they want
to believe the testimony of someone who denies
the existence of God.

Thanks for joining the conversation!




Kevin Craig
http://VFT.isCool.net/
---------------------------------------------

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and sit under their Vine & Fig Tree.
Micah 4:1-7