Paraíba Court Strikes Down Bible and 'Under God's Protection' Requirement in State Assembly

Overview

• The TJ-PB's Órgão Especial voted 10–0, with one abstention, to strike the Assembly's opening invocation and Bible mandate as unconstitutional.
• The ruling resolved an ADI filed by the state prosecutor's office alleging breaches of laicity, religious freedom, equality, impersonality, and neutrality.
• Reporting judge Ricardo Vital said the rule signaled improper institutional preference that marginalized religious minorities as well as atheists and agnostics.
• Relatora Fátima Bezerra reversed an initial stance to join the majority, while Aluízio Bezerra and Onaldo Queiroga cited historical tradition in partial dissents, and Abrão Lincoln abstained.
• Assembly president Adriano Galdino called the practice symbolic and said the legislature will appeal; the rite cannot remain as an official protocol, though personal religious expressions are not barred.