……the Ashville Citizen times has reported that the NC Constitution is clear, Article 6 Section 8: “Disqualification for Office. The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”

Cecil Bothwell's opponents are citing this as the means to deny him from taking his rightfully elected seat in the city council. However, as the article notes, Article 6 of the US Constitution trumps the state Constitution as it states:  “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

On top of the US Constitution's clear objection to such a test, the US Supreme Court ruled in 1961 that Maryland's religious litmus test was unconstitutional as it violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. 

But seriously? This is the North Carolina State Constitution that was rewritten in 1971……1971, really? So Article 6 Section 8 was in direct violation of the US Constitution as well as the 1961 Supreme Court ruling for almost 40 years before it was caught? How did this go unnoticed for this long?