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Official State Books: What Does Tennessee’s Plan To Name The Bible The State’s ‘Official Book’ Actually Mean?

By Aaron Homer
Published on: 05:26 PST, Apr 7, 2016

Tennessee is considering naming The Bible its “official state book,” a possibility that has earned the support of some conservative Christians, but has advocates for the separation of church and state alarmed.

As the Tennessean (Nashville) reports, a bill — HB 615 — to name The Bible as the Official State Book of Tennessee has passed both houses of The Volunteer State’s legislature, and is awaiting a signature from the state’s Republican governor, Bill Haslam.

Whether or not Haslam will sign the bill remains to be seen.

So if Tennessee does name The Bible as its “official state book,” what will the law mean?

Depending on whom you ask, it means that Tennessee is honoring the cultural and historical text that has been a guiding force in the founding of the United States of America; it means exactly nothing; or it heralds the beginning of the end of separation of church and state in Tennessee.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) falls squarely in the latter category.

Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, writes that naming The Bible as Tennessee’s “official state book” is a dangerous move that will alienate non-Christians in Tennessee.

“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.”

Conservative lawmakers in Tennessee, however, see things differently.

Republican Senator Kerry Roberts, for example, says that the words of The Bible are the basis for the government of the U.S.

“The very founding of our nation — the very form of government that we have today — was put forth by men of faith, based on their faith, based on what they read in Holy Scripture.”

In fact, naming an “Official State Book,” be it The Bible or any other book, is largely an act of ceremonial legislation that will have zero practical effect on the people of Tennessee.

Consider, for example, that Tennessee already has a number of other symbols that occupy positions as the state’s “official” this or that. The Eastern Box Turtle is Tennessee’s official reptile. Milk is Tennessee’s official beverage. The Barrett M82 sniper rifle is the official state rifle.

None of those “official” designations have had any practical effect on the people of Tennessee, nor are they likely to, ever. Tennesseans can still drink other beverages besides milk and can still buy other rifles besides the “official” one.

Tennessee is not the first state to attempt to designate The Bible as its official state book. Mississippi and Louisiana have both considered such bills, although neither passed. In Alabama, one specific Bible — the Bible on which Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederacy — is the state’s official Bible, but The Bible in general is not the state’s official book.

Other states have designated — or considered designating — other books besides The Bible as their own “official state books.” Massachusetts, for example, named Make Way for the Ducklings its official state children’s book; and Minnesota once considered naming Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie its own official state book.

Do you believe that Tennessee’s governor should sign HB 615 and make The Bible its official state book?

[Image via Shutterstock/Anelina]

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