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Calls to veto Tennessee bill making the Bible 'official state book'
Source: Reuters
World | Tue Apr 5, 2016 6:22pm EDT
Calls to veto Tennessee bill making the Bible 'official state book'
NASHVILLE | BY TIM GHIANNI
Tennessee lawmakers have voted to make the Bible the state's official book and Governor Bill Haslam is under pressure from civil libertarian and nontheistic groups to stop the measure from becoming law.
A vote by the state Senate on Monday followed the state House's approval last year to elevate the official recognition in Tennessee of the collection of writings of the Christian religion.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee said the measure "tramples on the Constitution" and urged the governor to veto it. ACLU executive director Hedy Weinberg said in a statement that "Tennessee politicians have voted to reduce what is to many a sacred religious text to a political football."
Republican state senator Steve Southerland, who sponsored the measure, was quoted by The Tennessean newspaper as saying during an emotional plea that the bill relied on the historical and cultural impact of the Bible on the state.
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Calls to veto Tennessee bill making the Bible 'official state book'
NASHVILLE | BY TIM GHIANNI
Tennessee lawmakers have voted to make the Bible the state's official book and Governor Bill Haslam is under pressure from civil libertarian and nontheistic groups to stop the measure from becoming law.
A vote by the state Senate on Monday followed the state House's approval last year to elevate the official recognition in Tennessee of the collection of writings of the Christian religion.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee said the measure "tramples on the Constitution" and urged the governor to veto it. ACLU executive director Hedy Weinberg said in a statement that "Tennessee politicians have voted to reduce what is to many a sacred religious text to a political football."
Republican state senator Steve Southerland, who sponsored the measure, was quoted by The Tennessean newspaper as saying during an emotional plea that the bill relied on the historical and cultural impact of the Bible on the state.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tennessee-bible-idUSKCN0X22RF
