Religion Republican Party

First Amendment: Skip Directly to Second Amendment

Republicans in North Carolina are so in love with the Bill of Rights — as long as we entirely ignore the First Amendment.

A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide. [...]

House Bill 494, a resolution filed by Republican Rowan County Reps. Harry Warren and Carl Ford, would refuse to acknowledge the force of any judicial ruling on prayer in North Carolina – or indeed on any Constitutional topic:

“The Constitution of the United States does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal courts the power to determine what is or is not constitutional; therefore, by virtue of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the power to determine constitutionality and the proper interpretation and proper application of the Constitution is reserved to the states and to the people,” the bill states.

Then again, perhaps they’re simply overlooking the Establishment Clause the same way they overlook the “well-regulated militia” part of the Second Amendment. In fact, it’s a Republican glitch to swear allegiance to things like the Bible and only pick and choose what they hold as sacrosanct.