A recent social media post claims atheists cannot hold office in eight U.S. states.
The post leaves out important context. Constitutional clauses in each of the eight states do bar atheists from holding office. However, they have been unenforceable for more than 60 years.
According to a spokesperson for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a 1961 U.S. Supreme Court case ruling "makes all the state bans on atheists holding office unconstitutional and unenforceable."
A University at Buffalo School of Law professor also told Lead Stories that such a ban would violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment because "freedom of religion under that provision includes the freedom to have no religion."