By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Testifying before a Senate committee last week, Rep. Lindsley Smith, D-Fayetteville, assured the panel that she is not an atheist.

“I consider myself a very religious person,” Smith told the committee considering her bill to designate Jan. 29 Thomas Paine Day in Arkansas.

Smith was trying, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to allay the concerns of lawmakers who were uncomfortable honoring a man who, in the words of Sen. Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, “had some very disparaging things to say about the Bible.” The bill stalled in the committee when a motion to recommend it died for lack of a second.

Looking back on the episode later in the week, Smith said she shouldn’t have had to defend her religious views — or those of Paine, also not an atheist — to support a bill that had nothing to do with religion. The bill sought to honor the author of the pamphlet “Common Sense” for the role he played in building support for the American Revolution.

“We have a very religious culture, but we also do need to realize that (we have) freedom of religion, and that the constitutional law is that everybody has a right to their own beliefs,” Smith said.

Still, she acknowledged that church and state have a history of mingling in Arkansas.

In fact, the Arkansas Constitution states, “No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this state, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court.”

“That’s clearly unconstitutional, right?” Smith said.

That section of the constitution likely would be found unconstitutional if challenged, according to Richard Peltz, a law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits laws “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

“Atheism has been recognized as a religious credence that’s protected by the freedom of religion,” Peltz said. “Now, not everybody thinks that that should be so, including not all Supreme Court justices, but it’s well established at this time — as well as agnosticism, one can assume.”

Smith said it’s also instructive to look at the state Legislature’s Web site.

“When you go the legislative Web page, what does it have there? Our name, our address, our phone number, our e-mail and our religion,” she said.

The Web site — run by the Bureau of Legislative Research, also lists each legislator’s party affiliation, district, seniority number, occupation and past public service, and notes which legislators are veterans. A few legislators have no listing for church affiliation, but most do.

When asked why the Web site lists church affiliations, David Ferguson, director of the Bureau of Legislative Research, referred the question to House and Senate staff members.

“Who decided what specifically would be posted and in what form, I can’t answer that question,” said Buddy Johnson, coordinator of legislative services for the House. “It’s being done because it has been done.”

“Where that decision was made years and years ago, who knows?” said Ann Cornwell, secretary of the Senate.

Jerry Cox, executive director of the Family Council, a Christian conservative group, said making elected officials’ religious affiliations public serves a valid purpose.

“Religion is a very important part of the lives of the vast majority of people in Arkansas,” Cox said. “Since that is the case, I think it’s totally appropriate to have that on there.”

Buddy Blair of Fort Smith confronted the issue of religion in politics head-on in 2005 when, as a state representative, he filed a resolution to affirm Arkansas’ support of the separation of church and state. He said he filed the measure to make a point.

“I quoted part of the constitution of the United States and part of the constitution of state of Arkansas,” Blair said. “That was all that was in the bill.”

The resolution failed in a 39-44 House vote.

“They ran from it like rats from a sinking ship,” Blair said.

Now a former legislator because of term limits, Blair still keeps up with what’s happening at the Capitol. He said he was reminded of his 2005 resolution when he read about the reaction to Smith’s bill.

“It’s deja vu all over again,” he said.