Originally published April 26, 2023 2:03 pm PDT
The incident occurred three separate times.
QUICK FACTS:
- Arizona Rep. Stephanie Stahl-Hamilton (D) was recorded on a security camera hiding Bibles in the members-only lounge of the Arizona Capitol.
- A pair of Bibles was reported missing on March 23, again about a week later, and another time on April 10.
- The Bibles were first found underneath chair cushions, then the refrigerator, then discovered underneath sofas.
- The Bibles are usually left on display in the House’s members-only lounge.
- After the second incident, the security team for the building placed a security camera in the lounge, catching Presbyterian minister and Democrat Rep. Stephanie Stahl-Hamilton in the act of hiding the Holy Bibles.
INTENTION BEHIND HIDING BIBLES:
- The Arizona representative dismissed her actions as merely a “playful commentary on the separation of church and state.”
- “I am a Presbyterian minister so I obviously don’t have a problem with the Bible,” the Democrat representative told Arizona’s Family News.
- Republican Pro-Tempore Speaker Travis Grantham believes the action accounts for a deeper ill intent, saying, “When I’m watching that, I’m thinking, ‘Well, this is obviously someone who’s got some purpose and some intent, and they know they’re doing something bad.”
- “For an ordained minister to do that, again, it’s nonsensical. I have no clarity as to why it happened,” he continued.
- Grantham added that the Arizona state motto is “God enriches,” noting, “I don’t quite understand the issue of having a Bible available for members to read.”
BACKGROUND:
- As the Arizona state rep. hides Bibles, the Texas state Senate passed a bill to display the Ten Commandments in public schools.
- As “[r]eligious liberty was a bedrock of America’s founding,” the bill states, public schools “shall display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments.”
- The list of Biblical ethics must be “legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.”
