I learned something interesting recently. It appears that if I lived anywhere in the US, I could legally vote in an election. Except in the state of Alabama.
In Alabama, one of the tenets to which one must adhere in order to register to vote is to swear or affirm to "support and defend the Constitution of the U.S. and the State of Alabama and further disavow any belief or affiliation with any group which advocates the overthrow of the governments of the U.S. or the State of Alabama by unlawful means and that the information contained herein is true, so help me God."
And of course, it's those last four words that are the kicker. "…so help me God." Naturally, I couldn't in good conscience say those words, and Alabama would not permit me to "swear or affirm" these things without the inclusion of those words. They're printed right there above the signature line on the Voter Registration Form.
Just to be sure, I emailed the Alabama Secretary of State and asked if there was any loophole around this. Could a person, for example, scratch out those words on the form? I received a prompt reply from Ed Packard of the Elections Division of that office. He said:
Under Alabama state law, individuals who are applying for voter registration in Alabama are required to accept the oath on the voter registration application.The issue of altering the oath in the manner you describe has not been addressed before. Therefore, I would like to recommend that you speak to official in the attorney general's regarding that question.
So I did. Six weeks ago. I have yet to receive a response.
But I know what the reply would be. From experiences of others, I know that scratching out those words, or adding a little note to the effect that the "SHMG" expression doesn't apply to the signer, will most certainly not work. In fact, it's likely to land the signer in hot water. For some reason, they don't like it when you change their nice pretty forms like that.
So basically, in Alabama, I'd be screwed.
In point of fact, I'd be screwed six ways to Sunday in Alabama. I may have bitched and moaned about the lack of separation of church and state when I lived in Utah, but at least in Utah things almost never turned violent. In Alabama, on the other hand, an atheist just isn't safe from the good ol' redneck Christian boys that infest every nook and cranny of the state. Some of the horror stories I've heard from civil rights attorneys and freethinkers in Alabama just chill me.
But what chills me even more is that there is a very vocal faction in America who would have the rest of the country follow that state's lead. In the opinions of these nutballs, people like me shouldn't even be allowed to vote. They should be denied this basic right of all adult citizens because of what they view as the "moral corruption" of atheism.
And in case you've forgotten, the father of the Republican candidate for president once confessed that he wasn't sure atheists should even be citizens. To my thinking, folks like him shouldn't be allowed to hold public office. And I certainly don't think his son would be an improvement over him.
Sadly, the vast majority of people in this country would look at my complaint about the Alabama voter registration and say, "That's really petty. Why are you getting so upset about it?" I've heard the same comments over some of the complaints I and my freethought group made in Utah. "Get over it," they'd tell me.
But what these people fail (or refuse) to see is that it is the overall effect of all these little things piled on top of each other that results in an almost overwhelming wall of intolerance toward atheists in this country. If we can't succeed in fixing the little problems, reversing the tiny affronts, how in the world can we ever expect to affect the big ones?
So I'll continue to complain about the little things. I'll write my letters and maintain this site. I'll picket and make phone calls. And I hope those of you who care about making this world a saner place will do the same, in whatever way you can.
