Iowa governor gets flak for Bible-reading proclamation

Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa signed a proclamation in April that encourages the people of the state of take part in a Bible-reading marathon, a move that several groups deem as promoting Christianity, thereby violating the United States Constitution.

"The government is supposed to be neutral toward religion," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation, as quoted by The Des Moines Register. "Can you imagine the uproar if the governor used state resources to encourage people to go to a 'God is Dead' rally or a vigil to review how divisive religion is? Everyone can see how inappropriate that would be. This is exactly the same type of violation."

The proclamation in question urges the people of the state "to read through the Bible on a daily basis each year until the Lord comes." It also encourages Iowans to take part in "this historical Iowa 99 County Bible Reading Marathon," which, as the name suggests, is a Bible-reading marathon to take place in front of the 99 Iowa courthouses. Several Christian groups, namely the Iowa Prayer Caucus, the National Governor's Prayer Team, and the United States Prayer Council, are organizing the events, scheduled to happen from June 30 to July 3. 

Ben Hammes, a spokesman for Branstad, said that the governor had previously signed other proclamations the recognize such events, such as Muslim Recognition Day.

"The governor issues many proclamations that recognize events, activities and different organizations' causes," said Hammes. "Requests come from a broad spectrum of Iowans that reflect the broad diversity of Iowa."

Groups that are pushing for the separation of church and state have expressed their opposition to the governor's decision. Aside from the FFRF, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers also see this as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. According to Raw Story, they believe that this is an attempt to make Christianity as the the state government's official religion.

"The governor's proclamation is frankly outrageous and embarrassing, and inconsistent with our core American and Iowan principles of inclusion and respect of all its people of all faiths, as well as those who are not religious," said Rita Bettis from the ACLU of Iowa. "Our U.S. and Iowa state constitutions protect from precisely this sort of government overreaching and endorsement of a particular faith."