Donald Trump’s latest scheme to generate a bit of money to cover his expensive legal troubles just reeks of absolute desperation, but what do Christians think of the “God Bless the USA” Bible?
Trump made the announcement on X (formerly Twitter) where he swapped out his old “make America great again” slogan for the new Christian themed one: “make America pray again.” Considering the ex-presidents biggest demographic is mostly the patriotic-Christian types with conservative values, you could say that the Trump Bible is a cynical attempt to appeal to as many of his supporters as possible in order to get them to give him money. The timing of this promotion is awfully convenient, but did Trump really just use a religious holiday to try and make a quick buck?
The video posted to X shows Trump awkwardly standing in front of a camera, holding his version of the Bible that was first released in 2021. It features an American flag on the cover, as well as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence printed on the pages inside. The worst thing by far though has to be the $59.99 price, (more like make America pay again, am I right?) but seriously, who’s paying for that? Is this a prank? Why does this whole thing feel like a joke from an episode of South Park?
What do Christians think of Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bible?
Despite a majority of Trump supporters being Christian, this is a step too far for many. Responding to Trump’s promotion on X, Rev. Benjamin Cremer heavily criticized the whole thing, “It is a bankrupt Christianity that sees a demagogue co-opting our faith and even our holy scriptures for the sake of his own pursuit of power.” Other’s responded calling out the book as being “sacrilegious” and one response simply read, “Jesus wept.”
Obviously, those are just the criticisms aimed at Trump’s dodgy money-making scheme. We haven’t even touched on the controversial decision to actually add things into the Bible. In an article from CNN historian Jemar Tisby explains the implications of such an action, pointing out that “it’s adding specific political documents to the Bible that completely erase the separation of church and state.” Rev Al Sharpton also told MSNBC that the book was “a spit in the face of people that really believe.”
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, communications director for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty also spoke with CNN. She called out the politician for promoting Christian nationalism, warning that “there is a diversity within American Christianity that gets overlooked whenever politics and religion intersect.”
So yeah, it looks like there are plenty of Christians who have seen straight through the business mogul’s blatant attempt at capitalizing on religion. However, they’ve also recognized the potential damage this book could cause by stirring up a toxic mix of religion and nationalism, which makes for a pretty scary combo. Of course, the scariest part is that there really are some Christians out there who support Trump’s bible, and his agenda.
Published: Mar 29, 2024 12:04 pm