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House Resolution 535 is another example of the fine line between religion and politics being blurred, according to local religious leaders and professors. 
The two-page resolution, adopted last week by a 193-0 vote, designated 2012 as &ldquo;The Year of the Bible&rdquo; in Pennsylvania.
Sponsored by Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Allegheny County, the &ldquo;non-controversial resolution&rdquo; ends with &ldquo;in recognition of both the formative influence of the Bible on our commonwealth and nation and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.&rdquo;
&ldquo;All over the Pennsylvania Capitol, one can easily see the tremendous influence that Christianity and the Bible have had over our founders and predecessors. These images and quotes illustrating the beliefs and morals that have shaped our great commonwealth must never be forgotten,&rdquo; Saccone said.
The Rev. Daniel Gunn, leader of St. Stephen&rsquo;s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre, said he disagrees with the House resolution and feels government should refrain from religious proclamations.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a reason we have separation of church and state,&rdquo; Gunn said. &ldquo;I do not deal with legislative issues from the pulpit, and I don&rsquo;t think the legislature should be dealing too much with religious issues,&rdquo; Gunn said. 
Jonathan Malesic, an associate professor of theology at King&rsquo;s College who is a staunch supporter of the separation of church and state, said the resolution &ldquo;flies in the face of Pennsylvania&rsquo;s history.&rdquo;
He noted the state&rsquo;s initial European settlers, the Quakers, &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t want to institute a Quaker theocracy. They wanted religious freedom. Pennsylvania was the religiously free colony.&rdquo; 
&ldquo;To see something like this in Pennsylvania, considering our current religious diversity and our history of religious diversity,&rdquo; contradicts the Quaker&rsquo;s intent. 
Rep. Mike Carroll, D-Avoca, was one of the 193 who voted in favor but said not too much should be read into the document. 
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a resolution, it&rsquo;s meaningless.&rdquo; 
He said that when the resolution was circulated, some Democrats scratched their head. But when it came time to vote, it received a yes vote from every Democrat and Republican present. 
&ldquo;While we weren&rsquo;t thrilled with it, no Democrat wanted to vote no,&rdquo; Carroll said. &ldquo;Who wants to be the one to vote against the Bible?&rdquo; 
&lsquo;Religious bullying&rsquo;
Justin Vacula, a co-organizer of the Northeast Pennsylvania Free Thought Society and a self-proclaimed atheist, said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a shame there had to be this sort of religious bullying.&rdquo; 
Keystone College political science professor Jeff Brauer said the resolution is controversial on many levels, including from a political view.
&ldquo;Many will simply be upset that the legislature is spending time and taxpayer dollars on passing such ceremonial/symbolic resolutions instead of actually spending time on addressing those great challenges in real, meaningful, tangible ways,&rdquo; Brauer said. 
Carroll said that while he agrees there are better things the legislature could be spending time on, he wasn&rsquo;t as taken aback because &ldquo;it took 10 seconds and cost an inconsequential amount of money on printing costs.&rdquo; 
No area House members signed on as cosponsors but the representative who introduced the resolution issued a statement spelling out why he authored the document.
Malesic, who penned a book called &ldquo;Secret Faith in the Public Square,&rdquo; said he was disappointed some Christians are playing politics with religion.
After reading the resolution, Gunn said, &ldquo;This is worded with such Christian bias that it might even be offensive to our Jewish brothers and sisters. But it is certainly offensive to other faiths.&rdquo; He also questioned whether the legislature would soon be declaring &ldquo;a year of the Bhagavad Gita or a year of the Koran,&rdquo; mentioning the holy books of the Hindu and Islam religions. 
Kyle Kreider, a political science professor at Wilkes University, said, speaking &ldquo;as a Christian and a political scientist, I think it&rsquo;s disrespectful to other religions.&rdquo;
He added that the resolution &ldquo;sends the wrong signal. Why is the government even getting involved in a religious debate?&rdquo;
The resolution has drawn the ire of both the Philadelphia Daily News and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial boards, which took the resolution to task.
Sosar: No problem
But not everyone took issue.
Dave Sosar, a political science professor at King&rsquo;s College, said &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see a problem with it.&rdquo;
He also said that the politicians see this as &ldquo;a no-lose&rdquo; issue. 
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s going to be people out there who are going to have a lot of trouble with that,&rdquo; he said, but added that group is not enough to sway an election.
READ HR535

To read House Resolution 535 go to: http://tlgets.me/houseresolution

To read a statement from the bill&rsquo;s primary sponsor, go to: http://tlgets.me/houseresolution2

‘year Of Bible’ Sparking Dispute