In Ashville, North Carolina, the Los Angeles Times reports, a city councilman is under fire for being an atheist (or, as he says, “post-theist”)—and the state’s constitution is on the critics’ side:

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, you see, is an atheist—or as he often describes himself, a “post-theist.” And that has outraged some in this picturesque mountain resort 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.”

However, on Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish, an unnamed reader who claims to be from Ashville says that the whole “controversy” is overblown:

When Bothwell took his oath of office, along with the other elected council members and the re-elected mayor, there was not one bit of serious dispute over his right to take his seat. No one shouted, no one heckled him. No one’s tried to press a lawsuit. The city attorney’s office is completely unconcerned. No one on council, including the conservative Democrat, the sole Republican and our outspokenly Christian mayor, tried to oppose him. He got his round of applause and at his first full meeting, on Dec. 15, exercised his rights to speak and vote just like every other council member.

The matter of discrimination against atheist office-holders is discussed in the paper by Penny Edgell, et al., “Atheists as ‘Other’.” A number of state constitutions in the US, as in North Carolina, do insist that belief in God or Christianity is a necessary requirement for holding office.

Continue reading in the Los Angeles Times, and read Ruth Braunstein’s earlier post on Cecil Bothwell here.