Article I, Sec. 5 of the Indiana Constitution:
No religious test shall be required, as a qualification for any office of trust or profit.
This is obviously modeled after Article VI of the United States Constitution which reads, in part:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
This language was also present in Indiana’s Constitution of 1816 at Article I, Section 3.
This concern in the United States may well have related back to the Test Act of 1673 in England or similar acts. The Test Act of 1673 required “all persons filling any office, civil or military, to take oaths of supremacy and allegiance, to subscribe to a declaration against transubstantiation, and to receive the sacrament within three months of taking office,” specifically:
I do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever: and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous…”
And, once again, I think the folks who founded our state and federal constitutions were still keenly aware of the upheavals caused by the intertwining of church and state, particularly in the 16th – 18th centuries. Fine doctrinal points such as whether bread and wine literally turned into blood and flesh during the mass or whether the food products merely symbolized blood and flesh were not merely matters for idle scholarly debate. They were issues for which people killed and died.
I did not know about the Test Act of 1673-thanks Doug! The Test Act makes the Church of England the governmental church. In many respects it still is; which made for some fun moments when divorced Charles married divorced Camilla. (Since he may some day be the “head” of the church).
It was of great fortune that by the time the US constitution was written, our nation was already receiving immigrants of many different religious backgrounds. There was no way for any one denomination to force their way into governmental affairs. And the government wisely chose not to endorse a state religion.
Could you imagine W. being the head of the Church? Yikes!
The language of the Test Act on Transubstantiation wasn’t directed to a “fine” doctrinal point but an exceedingly blunt one, a clear litmus test meant to catch Roman Catholics on a point of Catholic doctrine that all Catholics would be very familiar with. That was the very point of picking it.