Looks like someone can't take a joke in Arizona's House of Representatives. Or a bunch of humorless Republican lawmakers, that is — who tried to expel a Democratic lawmaker for hiding the Bible as a prank. Instead, in a tight 30-28 vote, the hot-headed Representatives managed to censure Rep. Stephanie Stahl for her "flagrantly offensive" actions, dramatically calling her prank a "desecration" of scripture.
The mischievous Stahl admitted (after caught on a hidden camera) to hiding the Bibles —which are offered on tables in the House lounge —three times, under couch cushions and once inside a refrigerator. She later said she was playfully making a point on the separation of church and state and protesting "against the weaponization of religion in politics," according to NPR.
But many Republicans were outraged by what they called the "desecration" of scripture – some commented that they may have unknowingly sat on the Bible when it was hidden under seat cushions.
"To do so is flagrantly offensive, and something the House needs to take seriously," said Rep. Justin Heap, one of three Republicans who filed an ethics complaint against Stahl Hamilton over the incidents.
Still, the vote fell well short of the two-thirds majority needed to kick a member out of the House. Democrats and four Republicans rejected the motion to expel.
The Tuesday votes followed a full-blown investigation into the matter, even after Hamilton was caught, admitted to and apologized for her actions. The committee's unanimous seven-page report cast doubt on the sincerity of the apology, as well as Stahl Hamilton's characterization of her actions as a "joke."
The ethics committee report laughably argued that "her actions would have been equally offensive and disrespectful if it had been the Book of Mormon, Qur'an, or any other religious text." Religious texts that, according to NPR, do not exist in Arizona's House lounge.
