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HOUSE JOINT
RESOLUTION 4200
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Passed
Legislature - 1993 Regular Session
State
of Washington 53rd Legislature 1993
Regular Session
By
Read
first time 01/13/93. Referred to Committee on Local Government.
Amending the Constitution to permit municipalities and state agencies to
employ chaplains.
BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION ASSEMBLED:
THAT, At the next general election to be held
in this state there shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the state for
their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to Article I,
section 11 of the Constitution of the state of Washington to read as follows:
Article I, section 11. Absolute freedom of
conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief and worship, shall be
guaranteed to every individual, and no one shall be molested or disturbed in
person or property on account of religion; but the liberty of conscience hereby
secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or
justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state. No
public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious
worship, exercise or instruction, or the support of any religious
establishment: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That this article shall not be so construed
as to forbid the employment by the state of a chaplain for such of the state
custodial, correctional, and mental institutions, or by a county's or
public hospital district's hospital, health care facility, or hospice, as
in the discretion of the legislature may seem justified. No religious
qualification shall be required for any public office or employment, nor shall
any person be incompetent as a witness or juror, in consequence of his opinion
on matters of religion, nor be questioned in any court of justice touching his
religious belief to affect the weight of his testimony.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of
state shall cause notice of the foregoing constitutional amendment to be
published at least four times during the four weeks next preceding the election
in every legal newspaper in the state.
