# Testifying
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testifying/17023
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [December 13, 1999, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testifying/17023 "1999-12-13T14:54:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 13, 1999, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testifying/17023/1 "1999-12-13T14:54:00Z")
Just read the latest issue of Free Inquiry magazine. They had an article about how certain states(texas,carolinas,etc.) have laws that state you cannot testify or bear witness in a court case if you are an avowed atheist. Is this True? If so,how come the ACLU isn’t working on changing this?
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### Author:  [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)
#### Post date: [December 13, 1999, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testifying/17023/2 "1999-12-13T17:12:00Z")
Well, for one thing, they need a test case to take to court. And if their witnesses in the case were atheists… 😉
Seriously, though, there was a similar thing in another Southeastern state, where a law said you could not hold public office unless you swore on a Bible or something like that (ok, I’ve forgotten the details). So an atheist applied to be a notary public. Then when he was rejected because he wouldn’t do the religious stuff, he took it to court. He won. But somebody had to actually try to do it and be rejected before anybody could file a case.
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### Author:  [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)
#### Post date: [December 13, 1999, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testifying/17023/3 "1999-12-13T17:37:00Z")
I believe that Texas will allow atheists in court to make an affirmation; but their Constitution does state that no religious test shall be applied to anyone running for office, “as long as he acknowledges the existence of a supreme being.”
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### Author:  [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)
#### Post date: [December 13, 1999, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testifying/17023/4 "1999-12-13T20:27:00Z")
Well, how nice of them.
That’s like saying no black person will be lynched, as long as they are white.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [December 14, 1999, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testifying/17023/5 "1999-12-14T02:15:00Z")
Weeeellll … more like, “No ethnic minority will be lynched, except for blacks.”
Reminds me of _The Blues Brothers_. ‘What kind of music do you have here?’ “Oh, both kinds. Country **and** Western.”