The Bible book state
Mississippi legislature votes to make the Protestant primer their official text
Legislators in Mississippi are in the process of passing ordinances that will make the Bible the official state book. The lawmakers are still trying to get the ordinances passed even though it is believed they may violate the First Amendment.
Bible belt — State legislature pushed to make Christian text their official book. Google Images
This is not a law respecting the establishment of religion. Symbolically making the Bible Mississippi’s state book is not forcing anyone to read it.
According to the Christian Post, Reps. Tom Miles, Michael Evans and William Arnold are the main characters backing the bills in the Mississippi State Legislature. Mississippi currently does not have an official state book.
This does not violate the separation of church and state. This is completely symbolic. Our country was founded upon these principles. It would be a totally different story if they were going into the school system and forcing children to read it.
Government mandated religion is why America was colonized. The pilgrims escaped the totalitarian state of England and came to America to worship freely, instead of being bound by government-mandated religion.
Some will argue that “In God We Trust” is violating the separation of church and state. It is not. The government is not forcing you to believe something just by making it the nation’s motto.
There is no reason for this to gain national attention while we have ISIS and Iran to worry about. This is a state issue and should stay that way. The moment the federal government gets involved is the moment it tries to begin to take Mississippi’s individual state rights away.
The separation of church and state is immensely complicated and tricky. The government should not be able to force someone to read his or her Bible. The government also should not be able to prevent someone from reading his or her Bible.
Religion should be voluntary.
Miles was right when he told the Associated Press he is not trying to force religion on anyone and that it is purely a symbolic gesture.
The opposing arguments against having the Bible as the state book are extremely weak. For one, this does not violate the Constitution in any way. This does not abridge free speech nor does it force religion or reading on people.
Some opposition says the state should consider adopting native literature as its state book.
“It’s impossible to conceive of a state abandoning its literary heritage…” Larry Wells, whose deceased wife was William Faulkner’s niece, according to the Huffington Post, said.
“What would Faulkner and Eudora Welty and Shelby Foote and Richard Wright think?” Wells said. “I think they would collectively link arms and say, ‘Go back to kindergarten, Legislature.’”
Miles told the Associated Press that the “Bible provides a good role model on how to treat people … and they could read in there about love and compassion.”
Establishing the Bible as Mississippi’s state book does not infringe upon any citizen’s rights nor does it take them away. It is time for our nation’s legislators to try to come together to pass laws of more importance instead of worrying about state symbols.
The shape that the union is in at the present is very concerning, and a mere state symbol is not what is going to solve the nation’s problems.
OZBURN is an opinion writer.