are really screwed up.
Seems fairly straightforward, even routine, doesn't it? But this is South Carolina:
I strongly suspect that the constitution of South Carolina, like those of all the other states, contains a provision forbidding establishment of religion -- ah, yes, Article I, section 2:
Sound familiar? But wait, it gets better:
This is all possible, of course, because South Carolina has no real problems for the legislature to address.
If I made this up, no one would believe it.
An eight-year-old South Carolina girl’s drive to have the woolly mammoth designated at the state’s ‘official fossil’ has been thwarted by two state senators who want the bill to be amended to give credit to God for creating the earth and the mammoth. . . .
The third grader wrote a letter to her state representatives, Rep. Robert Ridgeway (D) and Sen. Kevin Johnson (D), pointing out that one of the earliest discoveries of a fossil in North America was the teeth of a woolly mammoth, dug up by slaves on a South Carolina plantation in 1725.
Ridgeway and Johnson proceeded to introduce a bill to amend the state’s code to include the Columbian Mammoth as the official state fossil of South Carolina, which the state House passed 94-3.
Seems fairly straightforward, even routine, doesn't it? But this is South Carolina:
Upon arrival in the state Senate, Sen. Kevin Bryant (R), a self-described ‘born-again Christian,’ proposed to amend the bill by inserting three verses from the Book of Genesis detailing God’s creation of the Earth and all of its living inhabitants — including mammoths.
I strongly suspect that the constitution of South Carolina, like those of all the other states, contains a provision forbidding establishment of religion -- ah, yes, Article I, section 2:
The General Assembly shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government or any department thereof for a redress of grievances.
Sound familiar? But wait, it gets better:
Because Bryant’s proposed amendment introduced a new subject, it was ruled out of order by Lt. Governor Glenn McConnell (R).
In response to the lieutenant governor’s ruling, Sen. Mike Fair (R), whose district includes the fundamentalist Bob Jones University, placed an objection on the bill.
This is all possible, of course, because South Carolina has no real problems for the legislature to address.
If I made this up, no one would believe it.
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