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Bills look to make the Bible Mississippi's state book

By Rick Couri
Jan 17, 2015

A recent Gallup poll found Mississippi to be the most religious state in the nation with 59% of the residents describing themselves as “very religious.”
A trio of politicians from the Magnolia State are causing controversy over two proposed bills that would make the Bible the state book.
Republican Rep. Tracy Arnold, who is a pastor, has proposed one such bill.

Democratic representative Tom Miles has proposed a similar bill, with the support of Democratic representative Michael Evans. "The Bible provides a good role model on how to treat people," Miles told the Associated Press this week. "They could read in there about love and compassion."

Miles pointed out Mississippi has a state flower, bird, and recently named the teddy bear the state toy in honor of Theodore Roosevelt. So why not a state book?

“Come on, that’s absurd,” American Atheists Organization Public Relations Director Danielle Muscato told Fox News.

“He doesn’t care about kindness or compassion. He cares about promoting his religious views and he doesn’t care if he has to abuse his authority as a government official to do that,” she lamented.

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Fox News reports many people in the state support the bills. "The lawmakers said it wasn't their goal to force Christianity on anybody but to teach people to treat others with dignity," native Zac Tucker noted.

”But honestly, this won’t make the state of Mississippi read it any more than they already do,” he concluded.

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Rick Couri

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