State legislators proposed nullifying federal church-state separation via state law

Evidence

The faction of Republicans that are in control is so radical that, in 2013, fourteen North Carolina legislators put forward a bill, known as the Rowan County Defense of Religion Act, that declared that states are free to make laws they choose regarding religion. The U.S. Constitution’s church-state separation provision, they claimed, only applied to the federal government. Think of it as a new nullification provision, only aimed directly at the First Amendment. The bill would have allowed, say, public schools to insist that principals prove they had been “born again.” It could have mandated that candidates for public office prove weekly church attendance and that all public meetings begin with prayers that infidels will come to know the Lord. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 83

Categorization

• QUESTION: Was the Rowan County Defense of Religion Act ever passed or enforced, and what legal theory of state-level establishment did its backers invoke?
• XREF: connects to: Laws stripping religious freedom provoke principled civil disobedience — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 824; America’s founders wrote church-state separation into the Constitution — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 1069; State legislatures moved to nullify federal gun regulation through interstate commerce challenges — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1203 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• America’s founders wrote church-state separation into the Constitution #contradicts (0.85) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 1069
• Laws stripping religious freedom provoke principled civil disobedience #contradicts (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 824
• Religious accommodation precedents at national level can justify local-level exemptions #exemplifies (0.75) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 387
• State legislatures moved to nullify federal gun regulation through interstate commerce challenges #responds-to (0.70) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1203