It’s starting to look that way.
Image courtesy of tryon-nc.com
North Carolina state legislators have recently made statements and proposed legislation that support such a claim. By now, everyone has heard about the proposed bill to declare an
official religion. It was proposed on 4/2/13 by two Republican legislators, supported by 11 more, and finally shot down by the House Speaker two days later. House resolution 494 would have allowed the state to ignore the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as well as federal court rulings. It was proposed as a countermeasure against a lawsuit filed by the ACLU to stop Rowan County, NC county commission meetings from opening with a Christian prayer.
As if that proposed legislation weren’t intolerant enough, one of the supporters of the bill, Republican state Rep. Michele Presnell of Burnsville has equated Islamic prayer with terrorism in an email to a constituent. According to the News & Observer, a NC-based Pulitzer winning paper, when challenged whether or not it would be ok with her if meetings began with a prayer to Allah, Presnell responded. “No, I do not condone terrorism.” She later added, “We just need to start taking a stand on our religious freedom or it will be whisked away from us.”
So according to Presnell, taking a stand for your religious freedom means declaring an official state religion, ignoring the Constitutionally-provided freedom from government-sponsored religion, and refusing to allow public prayer from any non-Christian faiths. Yup, sounds like freedom to me!
But wait, there’s more! Small government loving Republicans in North Carolina have proposed another piece of legislation that will force a two year waiting period on any couple seeking divorce. Oh, the irony. The bill, poorly nicknamed the “Healthy Marriage Act,” would not only extend the existing one year waiting period to two years, but it would require couples seeking divorce to attend “communication skills” and “conflict resolution” counseling sessions. These counseling sessions would not be paid for by the state, so if couples cannot afford counseling; it appears they’ll be unable to end their marriages. What’s more, in its current form, the bill has no provisions for victims of abuse, meaning that abused spouses would be required to sit in counseling with their abusers to talk about healthy communication. Well that should fix everything. Finally, the (un)Healthy Marriage Act would remove current waiting period verbiage that states isolated instances of sexual intercourse don’t count against the waiting period. Removing this line could mean that an isolated hookup with your soon-to-be ex would start the 2-year waiting period over again if the courts could prove that it occurred.
Other legislation being considered includes: tax penalties for parents of children who register to vote at their college address (in an attempt to keep Democratic young voters from registering and/or voting), as well as criminalization of the enforcement of federal law on guns and ammo produced in North Carolina.
Tack on the state constitutional amendment passed last year to outlaw gay marriage, and you’re left with one big pool of intolerance. If you’re not a happily married straight Christian Republican with no dependents in college that want to vote, then you’re not welcome in North Carolina.
What’s next for North Carolina? Give them about 3 days and I’m sure another doozy will hit the press.