Poll: 60% of Tennessee Voters Want the Bible to Be Official State Book
A strong majority of voters in Tennessee want the Holy Bible to be the official state book, according to the results of a recently released poll.
After the state legislature rejected a proposal to make the Good Book the official book for the state, Vanderbilt University released a poll showing that nearly two-thirds supported the idea.
In survey results released in May, Vanderbilt asked two questions regarding voter opinion of the proposed law that would have made the Bible the state book.
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Sixty percent of respondents said they supported the idea, with 38 percent opposed, 2 percent said they did not know, and the remainder didn't provide an answer.
Support for the idea of making the Bible the state book varied among different political groups, yet still was strong all around, noted Dave Boucher of The Tennessean.
"That number drops a little among Democrats and Independents, but at least 50 percent of both groups still showed support for the move," reported Boucher.
"Self-identified Republicans and Tea Party members overwhelmingly support the idea: 72 percent of Republicans and 80 percent of Tea Party members polled said they want Tennessee to recognize the Bible as the state book."
Last month, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill to make the Bible the official book of the state in a vote of 55 in favor to 38 opposed, mirroring the poll's findings.
Republican State Rep. Jerry Sexton, a former pastor who proposed the bill, said in an interview with local media that he was pleased with the vote.
"History's going to tell us where we stand on this. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to have the side that I'm on," said Rep. Sexton. "It may be kind to me in the future and it may not be kind, and that's okay. I made a decision for today and I feel good about it."
Days after the bill passed the House, however, the Senate effectively killed it by sending it back to committee in a vote of 22 to 8.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris said in a statement following the failure of the bill that it was not "the time or place now in the full Senate floor to delve into that."
Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary and former president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, previously told The Christian Post that he does not believe that establishing the Holy Bible as the state book of any state is a smart idea, no matter what percentage of the state may agree.
"The state is supposed to be neutral when it comes to religion. I think it could be argued that for the state to officially declare one religion's Holy Scripture to be the official book of the state would be putting the state on the side or giving preference to one faith over other faiths. I think that is probably unconstitutional," Land, who is CP's executive editor, noted.
"For those who are Christians, one can't be neutral about the Bible. The Bible, for many Americans, is sacred text," Land said. "It is the Holy Scripture. If you try to approach it as just a historical book. That is not neutral. To me, that [degrades] the status of Scripture."
Released earlier this week, the Vanderbilt poll was conducted by the institute's Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.
The sample space was comprised of 1,001 Tennessee voters and was conducted between April 23 and May 9, with a margin of error placed at plus or minus 4.3 percent.
