Tennessee Just Named Its Official State Book And You Won’t Believe What It Is


Just in case you didn’t think Tennessee was bad enough when they allowed mental health professionals to turn away “sinners.”

Now, they’ve really f-ed up! They’ve gone and made the Bible their official state book. Do these lawmakers even read the Constitution?

Tennessee is the second state to claim an official book. Massachusetts made a children’s book, Make Way For Ducklings, its official state book. Mississippi and Louisiana are considering doing the same thing with the Bible.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery is trying to skirt around the issue of the law being unconstitutional. He has called the Bible a “history book.” Keep in mind, this is the same state that has an official state gun, the .50-caliber sniper rifle.

Yes, a state in a SECULAR nation is using the CHRISTIAN Bible as its official state book. This is unconstitutional and should be overturned. Really, it shouldn’t have passed in the first place. Now, they are opening themselves up to all kinds of ugly lawsuits. Hopefully, the governor will veto it.

The Governor, Bill Haslam, said that making it the state book is not respectful of the Scripture. Several pastors and a rabbi pointed out that this law is unconstitutional because it is favoring one religion over others. Some opponents in the legislature are saying that this would trivialize the Bible. You know it’s bad when even the fundies are against it. A lot of them voted for it because it is an election year because they don’t want to be seen as anti-Bible. Also, the bill does not name a particular version of the Bible that will be used.

ACLU lawyer Hedy Weinburg said that this is a:

“thinly veiled effort to promote one religion over other religions clearly violates both the United States and Tennessee Constitutions.”

Senator Lee Harris (D-Memphis) had this to say about the bill:

“My constituents tell me that they want us to respect the diversity of faith traditions in the state of Tennessee, not just a single view or a single religious tradition. And I think they’re right about the diversity of faith traditions in our state. One in five Tennesseans are not Christians. This group includes Tennesseans that are Jewish, Buddhist and also those that do not identify with a religion.”

Agreed, making the Bible that state book alienates all non-Christian Tennessee residents.

Featured image by Christopher via flickr, available under Creative Commons 2.0 license.

Hi, I'm from Huntsville, AL. I'm a Liberal living in the Bible Belt, which can be quite challenging at times. I'm passionate about many issues including mental health, women's rights, gay rights, and many others. Check out my blog weneedtotalkaboutmentalhealth.com