Republican Gov. Bill Haslam vetoed a bill that sought to make the Bible the official state book of Tennessee.
SB 1108 is sponsored by Republican Sen. Steve Southerland, an ordained minister, and Rep. Jerry Sexton, a retired Baptist pastor.
Upon vetoing the measure, Haslam wrote in a letter to the speaker of the statehouse that he saw the bill as undermining the significance of the Bible.
"...my personal feeling is that this bill trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text," he wrote. "If we are recognizing the Bible as a sacred text, then we are violating the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Tennessee by designating it as the official state book."
The Tennessee Constitution states "that no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment or mode of worship."
Opponents of the bill saw the bill to be giving preference to Christianity, while supporters pointed to the significance of the Bible to the state.
"What we're doing here is recognizing it for its historical and cultural contribution to the state of Tennessee," Southerland said earlier in April, according to Washington Post.
Initially, the House approved the measure 55-38, and the Senate 19-8. Had the bill not been vetoed, Tennessee would have been the first state to assign the Bible as its official book.
