General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A Year in Jail for Not Believing in God? How Kentucky is Persecuting Atheists [View all]onenote
(42,381 posts)you are right that the law is exceedingly silly. and, frankly, it ought to be held unconstitutional insofar as it requires the state director of homeland security to "publicize" the legislative findings about God's role in protecting the state and arguably imposes a penalty of one year in jail on the director if he/she doesn't publicize those findings. (I say arguably because the specific provision at issue doesn't contain a penalty provision; rather there is a generally applicable penalty provision to the larger section of the state code in which the god provision is located.
In any event, the court case upholding (wrongly I believe) the provision noted the requirement that the director publicize the legislative findings but then went on to expressly find that "no requirement exists that
the director agree with or believe in them or that citizens read the posting." So, as interpreted, the law doesn't threaten jail time for not believing in god.
A copy of the decision (which quotes the statutory language) can be found in a link in this article:http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/almighty-god-can-remain-in-ky-homeland-security-law