DAVID DALLAS: The Bible belongs to Mississippi
The casual cynics would suggest this is just more pandering to the conservative religious base by our state’s powerful Republican majority. They would be wrong.
The proposal was filed by Democratic Rep. Tom Miles of Forest and his fellow Democratic Rep. Michael Evans of Preston. So just what in the name of Melchizedek is going on here? What are Democrats doing promoting the Bible? Could this be a sign of the end times?
What are these two Democrats thinking? Doesn’t such a proposal play into the hands of our ultra-conservative leadership who seem hell-bent on creating a Christian Theocracy somewhere on the order of Sharia Law? What happened to the old Jeffersonian admonition calling for the separation of church and state, making no law respecting an establishment of religion?
The more bitter cynics among us believe these two Democrats are simply trying to “out conservative-Republican” the conservative Republicans. Nevertheless, Miles and Evans have asked for and received support from their Republican colleagues to create a truly bipartisan effort in making the Bible uniquely Mississippi’s.
Some have suggested that Miles and Evans may be building up their credentials so they can switch over to the Republican Party one day.
Don’t count on it. Miles and Evans are true Democrats and just might be using the Bible to swing our state back to the middle if not all the way to Jesus’ left.
David Dallas
MBJ
1/13/15
