A city council election in Asheville, North Carolina, remains quite heated because an avowed atheist, Cecil Bothwell, (shown at right) won the election over H.K. Edgerton. Now Edgerton has brought up a North Carolina constitutional statute that says that one must believe in God to hold public office.

Yes, article 6, section 8 of the North Carolina State constitution says, "The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God."

But Federal courts in 1961 ruled that religious tests for public office are unlawful under the U.S. Constitution.

According the city's website, Asheville in the largest city in Western North Carolina with a population of 78,000, and the county seat of Buncombe County. The city is located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

He looks like a nice enough man, for a politician. I don't think he will eat babies or defile the local livestock. He may dance naked in his back yard to the full moon though. :-)