Holy Week and the Easter season in New Mexico is a special time. While the rest of the country dyes eggs and buys chocolate, New Mexicans go on pilgrimages. Every Good Friday, thousands of New Mexicans either walk to El Santuario de Chimayó in the village of Chimayó or climb Tomé Hill between Los Lunas and Belen. Chimayó pilgrims sometimes walk all night, and the highway department sets up special lights along the highway and routes on frontage roads between Nambé and Chimayó.
New Mexico is a state of unique faith. Growing up here certainly shaped and informed my own faith journey.
This must be called out: Donald Trump's "God Bless The USA" Bible, released during Holy Week, is an insult to the well-meaning people of faith who have supported him for the last eight years. I may not agree with Trump supporters, but co-opting and co-branding the Bible to raise cash is not acceptable and is an affront they do not deserve.
As an American voter who actively practices her religion, I am offended by any political candidate profiteering from branded Bible sales. The God Bless The USA Bible is a King James Version Bible printed with the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, along with the lyrics to Lee Greenwood's song "God Bless the USA" written in Greenwood's own writing.
Proceeds from the $60 book (not inclusive of tax or shipping) go to CIC Ventures, LLC, the company that receives and manages Trump's likeness and publishing royalties, although the book's website implies that proceeds do not go to the campaign directly. Considering Trump's need to generate cash for legal costs, the campaign may be the least of his worries.
On the book's website, it is touted as the "ONLY Bible inspired by America's most recognized patriotic anthem, God Bless The USA." As though it were a popular country song from the 1980s that inspired the Bible as opposed to, goodness, I don't know, thousands of years of spiritual tradition, guidance, and revelation.
It's hard to know where to begin in defining the outrage of this business venture. I guess I will start with the most obvious. Do you want to buy a Bible from a man who has been married three times, trading each successive wife in for a younger model? From a man who paid hush money to a porn star to keep their extramarital affair quiet? From a man who mocks the disabled during public speeches? Buying a Bible from Donald Trump is like paying Hannibal Lecter to teach you to cook. It is an utterly terrible idea.
It also makes no financial sense. A King James Version (KJV) Bible, leather-bound, runs $18 on Amazon as of this writing. The Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance are anywhere from free to $10, depending on how resourceful you are.
From a historical perspective, I don't love America's foundational documents and a Christian Bible together. Among our nation's founding principles is the separation of church and state, which was important to many of our early settlers fleeing religious oppression in Europe, where state-aligned religious institutions dictated how and what citizens should worship.
Then there is the problem of the translation. The KJV Bible, while a breakthrough for its time 400 years ago, is not a widely used version today, except for fundamentalist congregations. There is a continuous effort by Biblical scholars to improve the quality of the Bible as more original text material becomes accessible. As an example, the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls impacted Bible translation. The Revised Standard Version, which was an updated version of the KJV, incorporated the Dead Sea Scrolls material to become the New Revised Standard Version in 1989. The NRSV was most recently updated in 2021.
And Catholics, the largest single Christian denomination in the country (and my own denomination), include additional books and material, collectively known as the Apocrypha, to provide a fuller explanation and exposition of Scripture in the Old Testament. The Catholic Church adopted the NRSV-Catholic Edition, which includes the necessary extra material, in 1991, and it became the source material for liturgy in 2007.
So essentially, the vast majority of American Christian churches – and American Christians – are using the same, meticulously translated, script.
The KJV Bible features the beautiful, old-fashioned language of its era and place – 17th century England. It's the source of many lovely hymns. But most churches and churchgoers have moved past the KJV Bible.
I don't think Donald Trump is looking for most churchgoers with his Bible stunt. He is looking for the extremists. Fundamentalist Christians have strong faith and reject the mainstream denominations and can be more extreme in their religious views. Somewhat paradoxically, they often reject the new Biblical scholarship as motivated by doubt rather than by faith.
According to polls, white evangelical Protestants have the highest opinion of Trump compared with other groups. And this is where the ruthlessness and shamelessness of the former President becomes apparent.
Because a known adulterer, who has publicly boasted about his female conquests, and who does not belong to a church himself, is SELLING BRANDED BIBLES targeting a segment of voters with strong, extremist Christian faith to raise cash to support his criminal and civil court costs. According to The Washington Post, Trump first planned to release his Bible in 2021, but universal outcry from prominent Christians derailed that effort. I suppose in 2024 he is now a man with nothing and everything to lose.
My recommendation for a good activity this first week after Easter is to download the 1960 film Elmer Gantry. No further comment.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican, she lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and two of cat. She can be reached at news.ind.merritt@gmail.com.