WILL BAUDE WRITES:

I am, on the other hand, completely blown away by the Tennessee Constitution, which seems to forbid atheists (and many other religious minorities) from holding any civil office in the state.

I would have thought that the 1st Amendment’s guarantee of Free Exercise of Religion (as incorporated against the states) included the right to reject it.

[Article IX also forbids Ministers of the Gospels from holding seats in the legislature and duelists from “the right to hold any office of honor or profit.”]

Can such a ban really be defended?

Well, the dueling ban wouldn’t seem to violate any constitutional rights, and as far as I know it’s still good law. The ban on ministers of the gospel holding office was struck down in McDaniel v. Paty, a case argued by my (since retired) colleague Frederick S. LeClercq. By implication, the ban on atheists is assumed to be invalid, too. (Here’s a link to the Tennessee Constitution in pdf form. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in the Tennessee Constitution — note, in particular, Article XI sec. 16).