The Bible will not be the offical state book of Tenneseee after Governor Bill Haslam (R) vetoed the bill Thursday, The Washington Post reports.
On April 5 the state senate voted to approve the bill, which Haslam claims “trivializes” the Bible by comparing it to other state symbols (such as the state tree or state bird), and that it would be unconstitutional to violate the seperation of chuch and state, NPR reports.
“If we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, then we shouldn’t be recognizing it only as a book of historical and economic significance,” Haslam wrote in a letter to Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R), The Washington Post reports. “If we are recognizing the Bible as a sacred text, then we are violating the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Tennessee by designating it as the official state book.”
Despite Haslam’s decision, proponents of the bill, who claim the Bible is of “economic significance” because of Tennesee’s large Bible publishing industry, are promising to bring it back, NPR reports. And the governor’s veto could be overturned by a simple majority, according to the Tennessean.