Don't forget Article VI!

I am quite puzzled when the general news media, reporting or commenting on ignorance-inspired or, worse still, deliberately misrepresented denials of our constitutionally separated church and state, confine their evidence of the contrary to the First Amendment. I am totally nonplused when a similar lapse is committed by Americans United.

Your December 2006 issue of Church & State provides a good illustration (AU Bulletin, "'Christian Nation' Video Removed From Calif. City Channel"). It mentions AU's "years refuting ... efforts to misinform the public on the First Amendment...." But why are we not reminded--certainly not sufficiently--of the last clause of Article VI, the sole reference to religion in the original Constitution ("... no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.") and the only use of the word "ever," including the detailed prohibitions contained in Section 9 of Article I?

This was particularly pertinent in the recent elections when the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Florida (who, as Florida's secretary of state, had been personally responsible for George W. Bush's 2000 "election") campaigned on a platform in open violation of Article VI, insisting not only on appointment of true believers, but that those believers be good Christians.

If it was simple ignorance on her part, that would have been bad enough. If, more likely, it was plain defiance--thumbing her nose at the American electorate, confident that the voters knew no better or didn't care--it would be far worse. As a retired federal administrative law judge, I wouldn't care to choose among the possibilities.

Irving M. Herman

Boca Raton, Fla.