President Donald Trump has issued an official statement “Commemorating 250 Years of the Bible in America,” coinciding with the America Reads the Bible initiative. In his statement, Trump paints a picture of an America that has had a virtuous, centuries-long relationship with the Bible. For example, he writes:
“From Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World and the first permanent English-speaking settlement at Jamestown to our founding in 1776 and to the present day, the Bible has been indelibly woven into our national identity and way of life.”
This may be true, but the Bible wasn’t always used for virtuous means — and still isn’t, if one follows current headlines. Trump’s own reference to “the legendary John Winthrop” — a Puritan lawyer and Massachusetts Bay Colony governor who wanted the early colonies to be known as a “city upon a hill” — is telling. Winthrop’s “city” was built on the backs of the enslaved. He didn’t just read the Bible; he used it to codify the enslavement of Native Americans and Africans.
The America Reads the Bible initiative aims to have participants — including Trump — read every verse from Genesis to Revelation aloud throughout the week. There is an obvious hypocrisy in a White House celebrating the Bible while overseeing lawless, and deadly, immigration crackdowns that tear families apart. It is hard to reconcile the “virtues of the Bible” with a leader whose public rants are often peppered with profanity and has had a decades-long association with a notorious sex offender.
Even as Trump prepares to publicly read the Bible, his administration is carrying out what ecumenical leaders have labeled an “unjust” war of “gratuitous violence” in Iran. As others have asked, What does it mean to read “Blessed are the peacemakers” while dropping missiles on a schoolyard?
Students of history know that simply reading the Bible has never been a neutral act. Historically this is the same text that was redacted into “Slave Bibles” and used as a tool of oppression and control. When the State touts a lifelong love affair with Scripture to celebrate a national anniversary, we should probably ask: Are we really honoring the Word of God, or are we simply using it as a prop in a redacted story?
The Bible is God’s revelation for human liberation from spiritual, social, and political oppression. If reading it doesn’t lead to “setting the oppressed free” (Luke 4:18) or a demand for justice for the vulnerable (James 1:27), it is simply a performance — when our reciting of the words sound more like clanging cymbals.
-Nicola, Managing Editor