Cities Recognize National Bible Week

Buena Park and Garden Grove have joined more than 70 cities in Southern California in recognizing National Bible Week, which begins Sunday.

Sponsored by the New York-based National Bible Assn., the week “is simply to encourage everyone to read the Bible,” said Robert Saul, executive vice president of the nondenominational group, which was formed in 1941.

“It’s the kind of document that is embedded so much in our history and literature that we feel everyone should at least be familiar with it,” Saul said.

Issuing a city proclamation marking National Bible Week does not violate the principle of separating church and state because the action endorses no single religion, Buena Park Councilman Steve Berry said.

“The city does not have any official standing on any one religion,” Berry said. “We are a city of many denominations, so we are able to basically say, ‘Let your god or religion be a part of your everyday life, but hold that separate from your participation in local government,’ ” he said.

” You can’t go wrong by learning the lessons from the Bible,” Berry said. “It will help our community as a whole because we do have to get along, and to revisit the lesson is a good thing. I have no problem giving that message out.”