Tennessee Lawmaker Seeks to Make Bible Official State Book

On Tuesday, State Representative Jerry Sexton put forward the new bill, after neighbors Mississippi and Louisiana made similar moves. 

Legislators in Mississippi claim that using the Bible in this way is symbolic, and that no one would be required to actually read the book.

"The Bible provides a good role model on how to treat people," Mississippi state Rep. Tom Miles, one of the co-sponsors of that state's legislation, told the Associated Press. "They could read in there about love and compassion."

Last year in Louisiana, critics of that state’s bill argued that giving such privilege to the Bible  would violate the principles of the separation of church and state. In their turn, religious critics believed it would trivialize the text. 

Sexton’s plan in Tennessee has likewise garnered some unfavorable reaction.