Local Republicans drop proposal to make Idaho a 'Christian state'

Idaho is not going to be a &quot;Christian state&quot; anytime soon

(Image credit: CC by: Kenneth Freeman)

The most closely watched Kootenai County, Idaho, Republican Central Committee meeting in history ended on Tuesday night with a whimper, not a bang. At a standing-room-only meeting in Coeur d'Alene, Precinct Committeeman Hans Neumann introduced a nonbinding measure to declare Idaho "formally and specifically declared a Christian state." Fellow Committeeman Bjorn Handeen promptly called for a vote to shelve the measure, and more than two-thirds of the 70 committee members agreed.

According to a national Public Policy Polling survey released on Tuesday, though, 57 percent of Republicans favored establishing Christianity as the national religion, versus 30 percent who opposed the idea. (In the same poll — which, to be fair, surveyed only 316 Republicans — 66 percent said they don't believe in global warming, and 49 percent said they don't believe in evolution.) As Janie Velencia at The Huffington Post notes, "establishing a national religion would violate the First Amendment to the Constitution."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.