Tennessee voters will get the opportunity in November to remove a clause from the state constitution forbidding members of the clergy from serving in the state legislature – 44 years after the United States Supreme Court deemed the wording unconstitutional.
Unfortunately, it will be more than a year too late for the Chattanooga minister who challenged the law to see the words erased.
The Rev. Paul McDaniel, minister of Second Missionary Baptist Church in 1978 when the court ruled, died last August.
The Tennessee state Senate unanimously approved a resolution to put the removal of the wording on the ballot in 2021, but the state House did not get around to voting on the measure until the end of its session late last month. It eventually approved the resolution, 89-1.
McDaniel did get his shot at public office, though. When Hamilton County changed its form of government the same year as the Supreme Court ruling, the minister was elected to a county commission seat. He served on that body for five terms, often being elected chair of the panel.