| NEW
MEXICO CONSTITUTION Acknowledgment of God None
Religion
Clauses Article II, section 11. Every man shall
be free to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and no
person shall ever be molested or denied any civil or political right or privilege
on account of his religious opinion or mode of religious worship. No person shall
be required to attend any place of worship or support any religious sect or denomination;
nor shall any preference be given by law to any religious denomination or mode
of worship.
Article VII, section 3. The
right of any citizen of the state to vote, hold office or sit upon juries, shall
never be restricted, abridged or impaired on account of religion, race, language
or color, or inability to speak, read or write the English or Spanish languages
except as may be otherwise provided in this constitution; and the provisions of
this section and of Section One of this article shall never be amended except
upon a vote of the people of this state in an election at which at least three-fourths
of the electors voting in the whole state, and at least two-thirds of those voting
in each county of the state, shall vote for such amendment.
Article
XXI, section 1. Perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall
be secured, and no inhabitant of this state shall ever be molested in person or
property on account of his or her mode of religious worship. Polygamous or plural
marriages and polygamous cohabitation are forever prohibited.
Education
Article XII, section 9. No religious test shall
ever be required as a condition of admission into the public schools or any educational
institution of this state, either as a teacher or student, and no teacher or student
of such school or institution shall ever be required to attend or participate
in any religious service whatsoever.
Article XXI, section
4. Provision shall be made for the establishment and maintenance
of a system of public schools which shall be open to all the children of the state
and free from sectarian control, and said schools shall always be conducted in
English.
Finance/Property Tax Article
IV, section 31. No appropriation shall be made for charitable,
educational or other benevolent purposes to any person, corporation, association,
institution or community, not under the absolute control of the state, but the
legislature may, in its discretion, make appropriations for the charitable institutions
and hospitals, for the maintenance of which annual appropriations were made by
the legislative assembly of nineteen hundred and nine.
Article
VIII, section 3. The property of the United States, the state
and all counties, towns, cities and school districts and other municipal corporations,
public libraries, community ditches and all laterals thereof, all church property
not used for commercial purposes, all property used for educational or charitable
purposes, all cemeteries not used or held for private or corporate profit and
all bonds of the state of New Mexico, and of the counties, municipalities and
districts thereof shall be exempt from taxation. Provided, however, that any property
acquired by public libraries, community ditches and all laterals thereof, property
acquired by churches, property acquired and used for educational or charitable
purposes, and property acquired by cemeteries not used or held for private, or
corporate profit, and property acquired by the Indian service and property acquired
by the United States government or by the state of New Mexico by outright purchase
or trade, where such property was, prior to such transfer, subject to the lien
of any tax or assessment for the principal or interest of any bonded indebtedness
shall not be exempt from such lien, nor from the payment of such taxes or assessments.
Exemptions of personal property from ad valorem taxation may be provided by law
if approved by a three-fourths majority vote of all the members elected to each
house of the legislature.
|
|
Copyright
© 2002-2008 by Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP. All rights reserved.
| | |
