Article 36. That as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to Him, all persons are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty; wherefore, no person ought by any law to be molested in his person or estate, on account of his religious persuasion, or profession, or for his religious practice, unless, under the color of religion, he shall disturb the good order, peace or safety of the State, or shall infringe the laws of morality, or injure others in their natural, civil or religious rights; nor ought any person to be compelled to frequent, or maintain, or contribute, unless on contract, to maintain, any place of worship, or any ministry; nor shall any person, otherwise competent, be deemed incompetent as a witness, or juror, on account of his religious belief; provided, he believes in the existence of God, and that under His dispensation such person will be held morally accountable for his acts, and be rewarded or punished therefor either in this world or in the world to come.
(emphasis added)Looks like I'm getting out of jury duty if ever called.
1 comment:
I read this completely different than you did.... I got that it meant that you can't kick somebody out of jury duty or discredit their testimony as a witness simply b/c they are religious as long as they aren't some nutcase (which is why they specified the stuff that comes after the world provided... to give themselves a loophole for some weird crazy religions).
It was no person who is otherwise competent can deemed not to be on account of his religious belief. Then, the subpoint is that if that believe conforms to certain characteristics generally recognized. Doesn't say anything about requiring somebody to have these beliefs in order to be competent for those civilian duties.
Unfortunately for your getting out of jury duty, inverses aren't worth shit outside of your religion of math. Hey, maybe you could argue that your numerical religion falls outside the guidelines and you could be excluded... LOL :)
Post a Comment