If at first you don't succeed....
While one US politician has abandoned his bid to make the Bible the state book for Louisiana, others are confident their efforts will be fruitful.
After Republican Rep. Thomas Carmody withdrew his bill to make the Holy Bible Louisiana's the state book because of concerns the measure was distracting legislators from more pressing concerns, at least two Mississippi congressmen are pushing ahead with a similar bill.
Rep. Tom Miles of Forest and Rep. Michael Evans of Preston, have said that the bill is the result of discussions with their constituents, who apparently bemoaned a lack of Bible awareness.
"Me and my constituents, we were talking about it and one of them made a comment that people ought to start reading the Bible," Evans said, according to the Associated Press.
In a report in AL.com, Evans, who said that he was a believer in the Bible expressed confidence that the bill will not cause problems from critics.
"The bill doesn't force anyone to read it," he said.
Miles, in a separate interview with AP, echoed Evans' statement.
"The Bible provides a good role model on how to treat people. They could read in there about love and compassion."
The two lawmakers further remarked that declaring the Bible as the state book is more of a symbolic gesture much like several other symbols that the state has declared through the years like the mockingbird as the state bird, the magnolia as the state tree, the oyster as the state shell and milk as the state beverage. It also went so far as to declare the teddy bear as the state toy.
"This (bill) isn't any more out there than that," he said.
The bill currently has about 20 co-sponsors, from both Democrat and Republican parties, making its chances for passage quite optimistic.
In 2014, the state also included the phrase "In God We Trust," on their seal without much opposition.
The bill, which was proposed last week will take some time before it moves forward.
