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    Trump’s Bible Misunderstands Christianity

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    The presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States, who weeks ago started selling shoes, is now peddling Bibles. During Holy Week.What’s special about this Bible? So many things. For example, according to a promotional website, it’s the only Bible endorsed by Donald Trump. It’s also the only one endorsed by the country singer Lee Greenwood. Admittedly, the translation isn’t distinctive — it’s your standard King James Version — but the features are unique. This Bible includes the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and part of the lyrics of Mr. Greenwood’s song “God Bless the USA.” Perhaps most striking, the cover of the Bible does not include a cross or any symbol of the Christian tradition; instead, it is emblazoned with the American flag.While part of me wants to laugh at the absurdity of it — and marvel at the sheer audacity — I find the messaging unsettling and deeply wrong. This God Bless the USA Bible, as it’s officially named, focuses on God’s blessing of one particular people. That is both its danger and, no doubt for some, its appeal.Whether this Bible is an example of Christian nationalism I will leave to others. It is at least an example of Christian syncretism, a linking of certain myths about American exceptionalism and the Christian faith. This is the American church’s consistent folly: thinking that we are the protagonists in a story that began long before us and whose main character is in fact the Almighty.Holy Week is the most sacred portion of the Christian calendar, a time when the church recounts the central events of our faith’s narrative, climaxing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. That story, unlike the parochial God Bless the USA Bible, does not belong to any culture.Holy Week is celebrated on every continent and in too many languages to number. Some of the immigrants Mr. Trump declared were “poisoning the blood” of America will probably shout “Christ is risen!” this Easter. Many of them come from the largely Christian regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. They may have entered the country with Bibles in their native tongues nestled securely among their other belongings.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Donald Trump and the ‘Dune’ Messiah Have Some Things in Common

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      It is fitting that the biggest movie in the world this year is the story of a messiah gone wrong.I’m speaking, of course, about Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” sequel, the story of a savior who broke bad in a specific way: He manipulated prophecy to unleash the religious fervor of an entire people against a hated foe.The “Dune” movies present a beautifully shot, marvelously acted, fantastical tale set in a distant future, but they’re very much grounded in the dark reality of human nature here and now. When people are angry and afraid, they will look for a savior. When that anger and fear is latched to faith and prophecy, they will yearn for a religious crusade.There’s a version of this same story playing out in the United States, but because the anger and fear are so overwrought, the prophecies so silly, and the savior so patently absurd, we may be missing the religious and cultural significance of the moment. A significant part of American Christianity is spiraling out of control.The signs are everywhere. First, there’s the behavior of the savior himself, Donald Trump. On Monday of Holy Week, he compared himself to Jesus Christ, posting on Truth Social that he received a “beautiful” note from a supporter saying that it was “ironic” that “Christ walked through his greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you.”On Tuesday, he took to Truth Social to sell a $60 “God Bless the USA Bible” (the “only Bible endorsed by President Trump”), an edition of the King James Bible that also includes America’s founding documents. “Christians are under siege,” he said. The Judeo-Christian foundation of America is “under attack,” Trump claimed, before declaring a new variant on an old theme: “We must make America pray again.”Two weeks ago, Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, told a Christian gathering that Democrats “want full and complete destruction of the United States of America.” Kirk is a powerful Trump ally. He has millions of followers on social media and is hoping to raise more than $100 million in 2024 to help mobilize voters for Trump.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Joe Biden Will Be Sworn In on a Family Bible at Inauguration

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Presidential InaugurationliveWatchHighlightsScenes from the CapitalScheduleQuestions, AnsweredJoseph R. Biden Jr. was sworn in for a second term as vice president on Jan. 20, 2013, with his left hand resting on the Biden family Bible.Credit…Josh Haner/The New York TimesJoe Biden’s Family Bible Has a Long HistoryHe’s used the same Bible as far back as 1973. It was also used by his son Beau.Joseph R. Biden Jr. was sworn in for a second term as vice president on Jan. 20, 2013, with his left hand resting on the Biden family Bible.Credit…Josh Haner/The New York TimesSupported byContinue reading the main storyJan. 20, 2021, 8:55 a.m. ETWhen President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes the oath of office on Wednesday, he is likely to place his hand on a familial artifact that has followed him throughout his 50-year political career: a hefty Bible, accented with a Celtic cross, that has been in his family since 1893.The Bible has been a staple at Mr. Biden’s past swearing-in ceremonies as a U.S. senator and as vice president. His son Beau Biden also used it when he was sworn in as the Delaware attorney general.Mr. Biden, who will make history as the country’s second Catholic president, after John F. Kennedy, often invoked his faith during the 2020 presidential campaign as he courted voters with a promise to restore the “soul of America.”In an interview last month with Stephen Colbert, Mr. Biden shared some history about the family heirloom.“Every important date is in there,” Mr. Biden said. “For example, every time I’ve been sworn in for anything, the date is inscribed.”But on Tuesday, a spokesman for Mr. Biden’s inaugural committee said he could not confirm whether Mr. Biden would use that tome for his inauguration — or even whether he would use a single Bible. (President Trump used two.)Beau Biden, the elder son of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., with the family Bible at his father’s second inauguration as vice president, in 2013.Credit…Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJoseph R. Biden Jr. rested his hand on the family Bible while being sworn in as a U.S. senator in 1973. Beau Biden, foreground right, was in attendance (if not necessarily paying attention).Credit…Associated PressThe Bible that a president-elect chooses to use for the swearing-in ceremony often relays a symbolic message to the American public, said Seth A. Perry, an associate professor of religion at Princeton University and the author of “Bible Culture and Authority in the Early United States.”“It’s difficult to imagine the ritual of the inauguration happening without that book at this point,” Professor Perry said. “It’s part of the scenery. It’s part of the thing that gives the moment the authority that it has.”Here’s a look how the Bible has figured into some of the most pivotal moments in U.S. history: the inaugurations of new American presidents.Washington’s Bible has been popular with other presidents.Like much of the pageantry associated with presidential inaugurations, the presence of a Bible at swearing-in ceremonies is steeped in tradition, dating all the way to the nation’s first president.The Presidential Inauguration More