Arizona Dem Rep Steals Bibles From Members’ Lounge. She’s An Ordained Minister.

 An Arizona Democrat state representative was caught on video stealing Bibles from the state house lounge— and she’s an ordained Presbyterian minister.

The Bibles plucked by Democrat state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton — who attended Princeton Theological Seminary —wound up in two places: buried in the members-only lounge furniture and in the community refrigerator.

“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,” Republican Speaker Pro Tempore Travis Grantham told KTVK. “For an ordained minister to do that, again, it’s nonsensical. I have no clarity as to why it happened.”

Stahl Hamilton released a statement to KTVK in which she said, “Just a little playful commentary on the separation of church and state,” adding, “I am a Presbyterian minister so I obviously don’t have a problem with the Bible.”

Stahl Hamilton told reporters that she was frustrated that “the Christian Bible gets used like a weapon around this place.”

‘And so I just took it and put it in the couch cushions,” she continued. “At the time it just felt like a simple little prank.” Two days later she hid a second Bible.  “To my brain, it just felt like it’s a game … a peaceful, playful protest,” she said. “I have long been frustrated by the blurred lines between separation of church and state.”

Stahl Hamilton later issued an apology in which she stated, “I hold Scripture very dear to my heart. It is what guides me. It is what shapes and informs the decisions I make. I have the utmost respect for people of all faiths, and for people for who choose not to have a faith. And because of that respect, I recognize my actions could have been seen something as less than playful — and offensive. … The intent was never to be destructive, to never desecrate or to offend.”

“No, not at all, the state motto is God enriches,” Grantham responded to Stahl Hamilton’s statement. “I don’t quite understand the issue of having a Bible available for members to read.”

“It makes me a little uncomfortable, and I think it’s kind of offensive to people who believe in and cherish the Bible,” Grantham added. “I feel like a disappointed dad.”