Bible's Sales Tax Exempt Status Gets The Ax In Georgia

There was a ruling by an Atlanta judge the other day that struck down an ages old Georgia law that allows people to purchase the Bible without having to pay sales tax.

Basically, Judge Richard Story ruled that, "It is a fundamental principle of free-speech that regulations which permit the government to discriminate on the basis of the content of the message cannot be tolerated."

It seems a retired Atlanta librarian, Thomas Budlong and Candace Apple, the owner of the Phoenix and Dragon bookstore specializing in metaphysical, religious and spiritual books, filed suit last November against the tax exempt status of the Bible. They felt that if one set of scriptures can be tax exempt then all scripture (the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, or even Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) should be tax exempt as well. The court agreed.

What is the reaction of the religious right? About what you might expect from such narrow-minded, we're right and everyone else is wrong individuals. This from Sadie Fields, state chairman of the Christian Coalition: "I think it's an outrage! I don't see any comparison between Scripture and some metaphysical nonsense."

Spoiled children so hate to share.

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