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((refimprove|date=November 2012))
[[File:Religious qualifications for public office in the United States.svg|400px|thumb|((Legend|#002255|States that have religious qualifications for public office written in their constitutions))
((Legend|#D3D3D3|States that do not have religious qualifications for public office written in their constitutions))]]
Religious qualifications for public office in the United States have always been  prohibited at the [[Federal government of the United States|national level]] of the [[Federalism in the United States|federal system of government]] under the [[Constitution of the United States| Constitution]]. [[Article VI of the Constitution of the United States]] declares that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States". The [[First Amendment of the United States Constitution|First Amendment of the Constitution]] also prevents the [[Congress of the United States]] from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion" (the [[Establishment Clause]]).

[[Incorporation of the Bill of Rights|Neither the First Amendment]] nor Article VI, however, were [[Barron v. Baltimore|originally applied]] to the [[United States states|individual states]], and individual restrictions were utilized by individual states to prevent [[American Jews|Jew]]s, [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholics]], and [[Atheism in the United States|atheist]]s from occupying public offices. State-level requirements for public office were not entirely abolished until 1961, when the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] struck down religious qualifications for all public officeholders in its decision in ''[[Torcaso v. Watkins]]'', a case concerning an atheist's right to serve as a [[notary public]] under a [[Maryland]] law requiring public officials to declare they believed in [[God]].  However, [[No_Religious_Test_Clause#State_law|eight states]] still have language in their constitutions that requires such qualifications.

==History==
===Colonial period===
The history of religious qualifications for public office in the [[United States]] dates back to the [[Colonial history of the United States|British colonial period]]. The [[History of antisemitism|history of anti-Semitism]] in [[Europe]] dates back to [[Roman Empire|Roman times]]. The [[Jews]] were expelled from [[England]] when [[King]] [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] issued the [[Edict of Expulsion]] of 1290. While some returned once [[Lord Protector]] [[Oliver Cromwell]] [[Resettlement of the Jews in England|encouraged Jews to return to Britain]] in the 1650s, they remained a discriminated minority within the [[United Kingdom]]. England experienced multiple waves of strong [[anti-Catholicism]] after the [[Reformation]], and the [[Anglicanism|Anglican faith]] became the state religion of the [[Kingdom of England|English Kingdom]] after supplanting a period of Catholicism. Ruled by the [[British Empire]] until 1776, colonial America was dominated by English political and religious influence. In [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]], Anglicanism was established as the official religion from 1702. The colony's Catholic subjects were barred from both voting and holding public office, although the right to worship privately was granted in 1712.<ref name = "Hennesey 1983, 42">Hennesey 1983, p. 42.</ref>

===After independence===
Religious requirements for political office in the United States were unconstitutional on the national level of the [[Federalism in the United States|federal system of government]] established by the [[Constitution of the United States]] since the ratification of the articles of the Constitution in 1788. The [[No Religious Test Clause]] of [[Article VI of the Constitution of the United States|Article VI]] of the Constitution expressly stated that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States". Additionally, the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[First Amendment]] of the United States Constitution, explicitly prohibiting the [[Congress of the United States]] from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion", was ratified as part of the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] only a few years later. Neither protected the [[civil rights]] safeguarded by the Constitution from the authorities of the [[United States states|individual states]] of the United States, as the Constitution was only deemed to apply to the [[federal government of the United States|central government of the country]]. The state governments were therefore able to legally exclude persons from holding public offices on religious grounds.<ref name = "Paddington et al. 2008, 156">Paddington ''et al.'' 2008, p. 156.</ref>

As a result of the [[incorporation of the Bill of Rights]] after the [[American Civil War]], the protections of the Bill of Rights were extended to the individual states on the basis of the [[Due Process Clause]] of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] to the Constitution. 

State requirements for political office were not entirely abolished until 1961, when the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] rejected a provision of the [[Maryland State Constitution]] requiring all public officeholders to declare a belief in [[God]] in the case of ''[[Torcaso v. Watkins]]''.<ref name = "Paddington et al. 2008, 156"/> Roy Torcaso, an atheist, had filed suit in Maryland to establish his right to become a [[notary public]] without swearing his belief in God, as demanded by the Maryland Constitution. After being rebuffed, Torcaso went to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that the state's religious restriction was invalid as a violation of guaranteed constitutional rights.

Although the ''Torcaso'' decision dismissed enforcement of religious requirements for office as unconstitutional in the United States, antiquated provisions barring atheists from occupying political offices were not immediately stricken from state legislation. As a result, a number of lawsuits were initiated after 1961 to secure the right to hold public office without conforming to religious requirements. These cases followed the United States Supreme Court's precedent.

In 1997, the [[Supreme Court of South Carolina]] decided the case of ''[[Silverman v. Campbell]]'', likewise following the Supreme Court ruling in ''Torcaso v. Watkins''. The court held that Article VI, section 2 of the [[South Carolina State Constitution]] ("No person who denies the existence of the Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution") and Article XVII, section 4 ("No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution") could not be enforced as articles in conflict with the Constitution of the United States.

==See also==
* [[Separation of church and state in the United States]]
* [[Religious discrimination in the United States]]
* [[Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service]]: Legislation depriving Jews of the right to hold public offices in Nazi Germany.
* [[Vichy laws on the status of Jews]]: Legislation depriving Jews of the right to hold public office in Vichy France.

==Footnotes==
((reflist))

==References==
* Hennesey, James (1983). [https://books.google.com/books?id=tAjuDMetOYcC ''A History of the Roman Catholic Community in the United States.''] New York: Oxford University Press. ((ISBN|0-19-502946-1)), ((ISBN|0-19-503268-3)).
* Paddington, Arch, Thomas O. Melia, and Jason Kelly (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=PxTkP6ZmtZkC ''Today's American: How Free?''] Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ((ISBN|978-0-7425-6290-5)).

[[Category:Anti-Catholicism in the United States]]
[[Category:Antisemitism in the United States]]
[[Category:Establishment Clause]]
[[Category:History of religion in the United States]]
[[Category:Political repression in the United States]]
[[Category:Religious discrimination in the United States]]
[[Category:Separation of church and state in the United States| ]]
[[Category:Separation of church and state|United States]]

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