Tennessee Senate committee approves bill making Bible state’s official book

A bill that would make the Holy Bible as the official book of Tennessee was given approval in a legislative committee on Tuesday. The Senate voted 7-1 in favour of the legislation.

According to THE TENNESSEAN, with a 7-1 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the legislation, sponsored by Senator Steve Southerland, R-Morristown. While the measure was approved by the House with a 55-38 vote just last year, the effort was shortened in the Senate. It even decided to send it to the committee.

Governor Bill Haslam and Attorney General Herbert Slatery showed opposition to the bill. The Attorney General even stated that the legislation violates the state and the federal constitutions, as reported by 11 ALIVE.

Senator Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, related with George Washington's inauguration. It is somewhat an attempt to offer his support to the bill.

"He used the Bible for his swearing in," Roberts stated. He also added that "there were a lot religious references in the ceremony. Pointing out that the country's first Congress had several constitutional scholars," he said, "The attitude of these people was not to keep religion out of government. It was to keep government out of religion."

USA TODAY noted that Senate leaders and Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey previously showed hesitation towards the measure. Ramsey even mentioned that it would be fiscally irresponsible to have the state spend tax dollars to defend the bill in court as the bill was discussed last year.

Tennessee's Bible bill also drawn national attention last year. Relatively, a few states have taken the same steps. Mississippi lawmakers considered a Bible bill this year, however, the effort ended in February. Also, just last year, officials in Louisiana took up their version of the Bible bill but it failed because of lack of support.

Meanwhile, with the judiciary committee's effort, the measure heads to the calendar committee, which will then decide when to send the bill back to the Senate floor. A few of the members of the committee also expressed their belief that it was important that the whole Senate had the opportunity to take up the bill.

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