American Sharia, #1: Louisiana begins process to make Bible state's official book

Dave in Northridge for The First and The Fourth

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Friday April 11, 2014 · 5:55 PM PDT

2014/04/11 · 17:55

I wish this was snark. From nola.com:

Legislation that would make the Holy Bible the official state book of Louisiana cleared the House Committee on Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs with a vote of 8-5 Thursday afternoon. It will now head to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

It's not the original bill that was submitted to the committee either, CHANGES were made.

Below the great orange collection plate for more.

Okay. It seems that there's a specific copy of the King James Bible in the Louisiana State Museum that Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport, wanted to make the state's official book. Somehow, when it reached the committee, that had become the King James Bible. Um, a good number of the voters of Louisiana are Roman Catholic and don't USE that particular translation:

"Let's make this more inclusive of other Christian faiths, more than just the ones that use the King James version," said Rep. Stephen Ortego, D-Carencro.
A few committee members fought the bill vehemently, saying the legislation was likely to upset some citizens who are not Christian and open the state up to legal challenges.

"I am so bothered by this bill that I just called my pastor. My pastor just said that he thinks we are going to have a legal problem," said Rep. Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, who voted against the legislation.

A substitute to make "all books of faith" the original state book failed 5-8 because the bill's sponsor, Mr. Carmody, said he objected.

rawstory.com had this to add:

Rep. Ebony Woodruff (D) said the adoption of the Bible as the state’s official book might be offensive to Louisianans who aren’t Christians.
“You’re OK with offending some of the citizens of this state?” she asked.

Carmody responded that the bill was not meant to be offensive.

“It’s not meant to be offensive,” he explained. “There’s no requirement that they would have to follow this particular text.”

DOOFUS.

I'm planning to watch this with RAPT attention. It strikes me that this might actually get through the Louisiana House and make it to the State Senate. I SO hope I'm wrong about that.

6:42 PM PT: Thanks, Louisiana Kossacks!

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