Louisiana Takes Steps to make Bible State Book

[Wraith]

BATON ROUGE, La. – Lawmakers are moving ahead with a proposal to name the Bible as Louisiana's official state book, despite concerns the bill would land the Legislature in court.

A House municipal committee advanced the bill Thursday with an 8-5 vote, sending it to the full House for debate.

Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport, said he sponsored the proposal after a constituent made the request. But Carmody insisted the bill wasn't designed to be a state-endorsement of Christianity or a specific religion.

"It's not to the exclusion of anyone else's sacred literature," he told the House committee. Again, later he said, "This is not about establishing an official religion of the state of Louisiana."

Lawmakers who voted against the measure said it raises questions about whether Louisiana would be violating the separation of church and state.
Rep. Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, said as a preacher's son, he loved the concept. But he said as a lawyer, he thinks the bill has problems. He voted against the measure.

"I think we're going to open ourselves up to a lawsuit. You can't adopt the Bible and not adopt Christianity," he said.

Other lawmakers objected to Carmody's proposal to use a specific version of the Bible, so that language was stripped from the bill before it was passed.

Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport, said she didn't feel qualified to "vote on anything that's related to the Bible," so she voted against it.

Rep. Ebony Woodruff, D-Harvey, said adopting the Bible as the state's official book could be offensive to people who live in the state and who aren't Christian.

"You're OK with offending some of the citizens of this state?" she asked.

"It's not meant to be offensive," Carmody replied. "There's no requirement that they would have to follow this particular text."

Voting for the bill were Reps. Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia; Johnny Berthelot, R-Gonzales; Robert Billiot, D-Westwego; Terry Brown, I-Colfax; Mike Danahay, D-Sulphur; Dalton Honore, D-Baton Rouge; Stephen Ortego, D-Carencro; and Tom Willmott, R-Kenner.

Voting against the bill were Bishop, Norton, Woodruff and Reps. Jared Brossett, D-New Orleans, and Austin Badon, D-New Orleans, chairman of the committee.

Source

This is a bad idea. I'm generally okay with people practicing or displaying their religion in public, but you don't get to have the government make it official in any capacity.

Like most of these things, this'll probably go nowhere, and even if it does the ACLU will probably fix it right up.

[Flixy]

But Carmody insisted the bill wasn't designed to be a state-endorsement of Christianity or a specific religion.

That's pretty much how I read it, though.

[Veldan Rath]

FFS...the legislature had nothing fucking better to do?

Way to go eating people's time and money.

[Loki]

Other than trying to get reelected? No.

[GGT]

Another southern state tried to designate the Woolly Mammoth as their state fossil...but inserted Biblical language into the Bill that didn't recognize scientific carbon dating. Oops?

[Echovirus]

GGT, I'm not the least bit surprised South Carolina pulled that, particularly the lawmakers wanting to add a clause saying the mammoth was "created on the Sixth Day with the other beasts of the field."

[GGT]

GGT, I'm not the least bit surprised South Carolina pulled that, particularly the lawmakers wanting to add a clause saying the mammoth was "created on the Sixth Day with the other beasts of the field."

Are you okay with crafting laws that way?

[Echovirus]

I'm not, but I'm not surprised by things my legislature does in trying to insert religious language at the early stages of a bill. It likely will not make it out of committee with it, but it's how they pander to their individual bases in an election year. I'm pretty sure they've done similar with adding religious language in the bill they want to pass that is rumored to outlaw abortions in the state, but I've been too busy with family things lately to bother delving into the facts of the "Pregnant Women's Protection Act".

[GGT]

Your legislature can enact laws, using religious language.....whether you're busy with family things, or not. Are you okay with that?

[Echovirus]

What part of "I'm not" did you misunderstand, GGT? And like I said, it is unlikely such language would be allowed beyond the committee. Many of the people in our legislatuere are moderates and would not vote for it to stay (they get enough flack from the NAACP over the Confederate memorial on the state house grounds and don't want the ACLU making waves here as well). I'd also doubt such blatantly Bible-related language would be signed into law by our governor who comes from a Sikh background.

[GGT]

Are you actively fighting against these 'biblical' bills?

[Loki]

Your legislature can enact laws, using religious language.....whether you're busy with family things, or not. Are you okay with that?

Are you ok with babies being killed in Syria? Are you? What are you doing about it?

[Timbuk2]

What exactly is a state book anyway?

Do all states have a state book?

[Veldan Rath]

State bird, state flower, etc...first time I heard of a state book.

[Timbuk2]

Oh ok - like an emblem or symbol - makes sense.

Bible as a state emblem isn't really all-inclusive is it. Though I'm sure it's representative enough of the vast majority of the Louisiana population.

Can't see it happening tbh.

[Flixy]

Wouldn't you want an emblem or symbol to be, you know, specifically connected to your place? I.e. not a book that has no real links with Louisiana in particular, more a book that's either written by someone from the place, a story set there, some kind of connection, even if it's a historic association, whatever, but is there any connection between the bible and Louisiana other than that a bunch of people are religious there? What would make it the Louisiana state book rather than another state's book, is what I mean.

[Wraith]

What exactly is a state book anyway?

Do all states have a state book?

It seems like they're making state-everythings lately. It's purely symbolic, but symbolizing an official state religion is probably not the best thing to be doing.

[Aimless]

Sue these idiots for wasting money.

[Veldan Rath]

Sovereign immunity.

[Lewkowski]

Yawn... who cares. I barely remember my state bird.

Both sides get up in arms about literally nothing.

[Dreadnaught]

Wait until they require teaching the State Book in school. That'll get the lawsuits flying.

[Aimless]

Yawn... who cares. I barely remember my state bird.

Both sides get up in arms about literally nothing.

This would be relevant if "separation of ornithology and state" were a pillar of your constitution and your nation but alas that is not the case so who cares what your lazy ignorant ass cares about

[ImAnOgre]

This would be relevant if "separation of ornithology and state" were a pillar of your constitution and your nation but alas that is not the case so who cares what your lazy ignorant ass cares about

Dearest Aimless, are you implying that separation of church and state is a pillar of our constitution (protip, it's not).

[Loki]

Jefferson wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

[Veldan Rath]

A letter, not part of The Constitution.

Don't get me wrong...I like religion staying out of politics, but if we want to use letters written by The Founders, that is great for context...but should not be used with a grain of salt.

[GGT]

Are you ok with babies being killed in Syria? Are you? What are you doing about it?

Echo is from South Carolina. His state legislature was in the process of designating a state fossil (the woolly mammoth). The bill was re-written a couple of times, in attempts to include biblical language that didn't contradict carbon-dating science. He has influence over his state legislature as a citizen voter.

[LittleFuzzy]

Dearest Aimless, are you implying that separation of church and state is a pillar of our constitution (protip, it's not).

Regardless of argument about that exact phrase, it's still very much an act of establishment and that is quite explicitly barred.

[GGT]

Yawn... who cares. I barely remember my state bird.

Both sides get up in arms about literally nothing.

So...you'd have no problem with removing "In God We Trust" from our currency, or removing any reference to "God" in public places, including court houses, and redacting the Pledge of Allegiance to its original text?

[Loki]

A letter, not part of The Constitution.

Don't get me wrong...I like religion staying out of politics, but if we want to use letters written by The Founders, that is great for context...but should not be used with a grain of salt.

Yeah, we should take the interpretation of a specific constitutional clause by the person who wrote it with a grain of salt.

[LittleFuzzy]

Yeah, we should take the interpretation of a specific constitutional clause by the person who wrote it with a grain of salt.

He didn't write it. Madison did. Jefferson was in France until after they were ratified. Jefferson had called for a Bill of Rights, had felt the lack was a major flaw in the work of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, but he was not at all involved in the work Madison submitted to Congress nor was he involved in the modifications Congress made.