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Rep. Richard Carroll introduces bill on religious freedom

By Trent Hill on February 19, 2009 3:26 PM

The only Green Party state legislator in the country, Rep. Green Carroll of Arkansas, has introduced a bill into his legislature to expand religious freedom to athiests.

Last week Rep. Richard Carroll (G-North Little Rock) introduced a bill that would amend the state constitution to remove the anti-atheist rule, which says, “No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court.”

Read the rest.

3 Comments

  1. Morgan Brykein February 20, 2009

    Oh hey, and it’s that Green Party guy even! I made a blog about this.

  2. Trent Hill Post author | February 19, 2009

    Whoops, you did include this in your last update…OH WELL!

  3. Ross Levin February 19, 2009

    I already covered this in my Richard Carroll update post, but was thinking of posting something about it again… so I’ll just post the stuff I found in the comments. With this bill, Carroll has made it onto the Daily Show’s blog ( http://blog.indecision2008.com/2009/02/18/godless-arkansasians-may-soon-be-allowed-to-vote/ ), US News and World Report’s blog ( http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/02/17/arkansas-5-other-states-ban-atheists-from-public-service-seriously.html ), and World Magazine ( http://online.worldmag.com/2009/02/17/government-post-arkansas-atheists-need-not-apply/ ). At the latter two, it started a good amount of discussion in the comments, too.

    He also introduced a bill to help hearing impaired kids before they get to school. Carroll himself has a child with hearing difficulties. According to ArkansasMatters.com,

    The bill would:

    • provide for an intervention and transition coordinator who oversees the state’s screening programs and diagnostic centers and their relationships to parents of young children with hearing problems.

    • expand a Hearing Aid and Technology Loaner Bank now being operated by Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the Arkansas School for the Deaf. Carroll says that program has helped many families but can’t meet all the demand in its current form.

    • Set up a network of six to 10 “parent guides” to provide one-on-one support and advocacy for parents of children with hearing loss. The entire program would cost about $300,000 a year, Carroll said.

    http://arkansasmatters.com/content/news/fulltext/?cid=191642

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