Tennessee governor vetoes bill to make the Bible the state's official book

The governor of Tennessee on Thursday vetoed a bill that aimed to make the Bible the state's official book.

Republican Bill Haslam said the bill "trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text." The attorney general warned that the bill would violate the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions, but it narrowly passed in both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly. Sponsors said it was not an endorsement of religion, The Associated Press reports, but a nod to the significance of the Bible in the state's history.

Haslam, who considered going to a seminary while a college student, said it wouldn't be right to elevate the Bible alongside other official symbols, like the state salamander, agricultural insect, and rock. "If we believe that the Bible is the word of God, then we shouldn't be recognizing it only as a book of historical and economic significance," he said.

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