ASHEVILLE, N.C. — When Cecil Bothwell took the oath of office as a city councilman this month, he did not swear to uphold the U.S. and North Carolina constitutions “so help me God.” He merely affirmed that he would, without mentioning the Almighty. Nor did the political newcomer place his hand on a Bible. He simply kept it at his side.
Bothwell is an atheist - or as he often describes himself, a “post-theist.” And that has upset some people in the picturesque mountain resort of Asheville who say Bothwell violated an obscure clause in the state constitution that disqualifies from elected office “any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”
A conservative group has distributed pamphlets warning locals that Bothwell is “Satan’s helper” and a “radical extremist” who is “ bashing religion.” A supporter of Southern heritage has threatened to sue Asheville for allowing Bothwell to take office.
The issue has lighted up talk-radio phone lines nationwide and prompted hundreds of calls and e-mails to Bothwell, a soft-spoken environmentalist who lived for 21 years in a house he built himself that relied on solar power and a gravity-fed water system.
“I didn’t anticipate all this attention,” Bothwell said recently after presiding at his first City Council meeting. “I haven’t even done anything yet.”
Raised a Presbyterian, Bothwell began questioning Christian beliefs as a young man. He’s a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, which includes atheists and agnostics as well as believers in God.
H.K. Edgerton, a former local NAACP president who has paraded in public wearing a Confederate Army uniform and waving a Confederate flag, said his lawyer was preparing a lawsuit against Asheville.
“If you’re an atheist and don’t believe in God and still want to hold office, I have a problem with that,” Edgerton said. “And the constitution of North Carolina has a problem with that.”
Asheville City Attorney Robert W. Oast Jr. declined to comment on what action the city would take if Edgerton follows through with his plan to sue.
Seven other states, including Arkansas, have similar provisions banning those who don’t profess a belief in God from holding public office, though the laws aren’t enforced.
The North Carolina clause was included when the state constitution was drafted in 1868.
In 1961, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that states were prohibited under the U.S. Constitution from requiring a religious test to serve in office, ruling in favor of an atheist in Maryland seeking to serve as a notary public. Maryland’s constitution, however, still contains the clause banning atheists from office.
Article 19, Section 1 of Arkansas’ 1874 constitution says those who deny “the being of a God” can’t hold public office or testify in court. In February, state Rep. Richard Carroll of North Little Rock, a Green Party member, introduced a measure to repeal the ban, but the resolution died in committee.
The other states with similar clauses are Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
But David Morgan, editor of the Asheville Tribune, a conservative weekly, said the issue in North Carolina was not the separation of church and state. It was a matter of honoring the state constitution.
“If you don’t like it, amend it and take out that clause. But don’t just pick and choose what parts you’re going to obey,” Morgan said. “This is serious business. I mean, the belief in God is not exactly a quirk.”
In an editorial, Morgan wrote of Bothwell: “He is taking an oath he obviously doesn’t believe in.”
Oast, however, pointed out that the state’s general statutes permit officeholders “with conscientious scruples against taking an oath” to affirm, rather than swear, their oath of office - without being required to say “so help me God.”
As for Bothwell, he says his atheism is irrelevant to his duties as a councilman.
“I don’t find any need in my day-to-day life for God to explain things to me,” he said. “When religion gets tangled up with government, it always causes problems.”
And while his fellow council members are “bemused” by the affair, Bothwell said, he’s not worried about being forced from office. He said the controversy was manufactured by political opponents “who don’t wantto see a progressive on the council.”
Bothwell ran on a platform of energy conservation, government transparency and changes to campaign finance.
But what really upset his opponents, he said, was his book The Prince of War, which is highly critical of the Rev. Billy Graham, who lives outside Asheville.
Another newly elected council member who took the oath this month, Esther Manheimer, did so with her hand on two sacred Jewish texts. Terry M. Bellamy, the city’s first black mayor, took the oath for her second term using a Bible. Both women replied, “I do” in response to an oath that included the phrase “so help you God.” Bothwell merely promised his “solemn affirmation.”
Manheimer, a lawyer, said the clause in the state constitution banning nonbelievers is unconstitutional.
“Mr. Bothwell, therefore, is entitled to hold office to the same extent I am,” she said in an e-mail.
Information for this article was contributed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 12/20/2009