In Pa, It's the Year of the Bible

Yes, its true. So while NJ Legislators try to work on Marriage Equality, on January 28th, the Pa Legislature declares 2012 The Year of the Bible. You don't believe me? Read on:

the PA House decided it made sense to declare 2012 the “Year of the Bible”—and unanimously passed a resolution doing just that, 193-0. The resolution, primarily sponsored by state Rep. Rick Saccone, of Allegheny and Washington Counties, is about a page long and according to some bloggers, is probably a violation of Church and State. And if not, it should be. Here’s an excerpt:

WHEREAS, Deeply held religious convictions springing from the 
holy scriptures led to the early settlement of our country; and

WHEREAS, Biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil 
government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence
 and the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, Many of our great national leaders, among them
 President Washington, President Jackson, President Lincoln,
 President Wilson and President Reagan, paid tribute to the 
influence of the Bible in our country’s development, as 
exemplified by the words of President Jackson that the Bible is 
“the rock on which our Republic rests”; and

WHEREAS, The history of our country clearly illustrates the
 value of voluntarily applying the teachings of the scriptures in 
the lives of individuals, families and societies; and…

You get the idea. All your favorite Philly pols, like Reps. Taylor, Josephs, O’Brien and the Boyles signed onto this. As noted at Americans United, “One of the great ironies of this situation is that Pennsylvania was founded as a refuge for those seeking religious tolerance. In his “holy experiment,” William Penn famously welcomed religious dissenters of many different stripes to his colony. He thought God, not government, was the ‘only Lord of Conscience.’”

Now some of our local Representatives are saying they did not mean to vote for this insipid bill. As Rick Perry said not so long ago: "OOPS"

Now there is a move afoot to repeal this bill. Ahh election year politics. Those Republicans, they are tricky. They are EVEN going to use birth control as a way to rile up folk just long enough to sneek in Mr. 1% Mitt Romney. Geez.