Recently, several Pennsylvania representative in the state house introduced PA House Resolution 535. The resolution declares 2012 as “The Year of the Bible” in Pennsylvania. The resolution’s only purpose seems to be to alienate atheists and other non-Christians and has inspired an online petition. Now two state house members are proposing a motion to reconsider the resolution.
Pennsylvania, like the rest of the United States, is very diverse. The freedom of and from religion is very important and must not be denied or infringed upon. Just as the United States is not a Christian Nation, Pennsylvania is not a Christian state. The State was named after William Penn who was a strong advocate for religious freedom. A resolution by the state legislature endorsing a state religion not only goes against everything Penn stood for, but is also clearly un-Constitutional.
The online petition opposing PA House Resolution 535 currently has over thirteen thousand, five hundred signatures (at the time of publication of this article). Representatives Greg Vitali and Mark Cohen are putting together a motion to oppose the resolution. Rep. Cohen wrote on his facebook page Thursday morning:
“10,014 Americans, largely from PA, have signed this petition to repeal "The Year of the Bible" stealhily pushed through the Pennsylvania House labeled as a "noncontroversial resolution." With the co-sponsorship of Rep. Greg Vitali, I introduced a motion to reconsider this resolution, which will likely be voted on the week of Feb. 13 or soon after. I am hoping for 50,000 signatures by then.”
In the afternoon, he updated his facebook page with this message:
“A few minutes ago, 13,581 Americans, overwhelming Pennsylvanians, had signed suppporting repeal of the Year of the Bible. This is a little over 35% higher than early this morning. I hope that we can have at least 50,000 signatures by noon on Monday, when the Rev. Sandra Strauss, Director of Public Advocacy, PA Council of Churches, and I have news conference.”
You can sign the petition even if you don’t live in Pennsylvania, but Pennsylvanians in particular are encouraged to sign: http://signon.org/sign/repeal-pa-state-sponsored
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