Bill Making Bible the State Book Heads to Governor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2016

CONTACT
Lindsay Kee, ACLU-TN communications director, (615) 320-7142

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Senate voted today to pass SB 1108, the bill making the Bible the official state book of Tennessee.

The measure’s companion bill, HB 615, passed the House last spring.

The measure now heads to Governor Bill Haslam for his signature, despite an attorney general’s opinion that the measure violates both the state and U.S. constitutions.

The following can be attributed to Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee:

“Today Tennessee politicians have voted to reduce what is to many a sacred religious text to a political football. Lawmakers’ thinly-veiled effort to promote one religion over other religions clearly violates both the United States and Tennessee Constitutions, as our state attorney general has already pointed out. While the Bible is an important book to many state residents, Tennesseans come from a rich diversity of faiths. Privileging one religion over another not only tramples on the Constitution, it marginalizes the tens of thousands of Tennesseans who choose to practice other religions or not to practice religion at all. We call on Governor Haslam to veto this legislation.”