Tennessee lawmakers have given initial approval to a resolution to amend the state constitution to say that “liberties do not come from government, but from Almighty God.”
The proposed amendment passed in the state Senate nearly unanimously Tuesday, after clearing the House of Representatives last year. But on the Senate floor, Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, expressed concern that it would reverse an apparent decision made in the 1790s by the state’s founders to avoid religious bias.
The
Tennessee Constitution is often noted for explicitly protecting freedom of worship and for trying to ban ordained ministers from serving in the state legislature, although they are now allowed. Those provisions led
Thomas Jefferson to praise the Tennessee Constitution as one of the “least imperfect and most republican” constitutions ever written, Yarbro said.
“I fear that this is creating language in the constitution that does not need to be,” Yarbro said. “This might be one of the instances where we should let the wisdom of our founders of Tennessee stand.”
During debate on the Senate floor, Tullahoma Republican Janice Bowling argued that times have changed since Jefferson’s time, and the Tennessee Constitution now needs to include an endorsement of God.
“When our constitution was written, it was clearly evident that there was the belief in an Almighty God, that there was a belief in a Creator God, that there was a belief in Jehovah God. It was not included in there because it was common knowledge and commonly accepted,” she said.
Amending the state constitution is a long process that wouldn’t culminate until 2022, when the wording would actually go before voters.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM