President Donald Trump is slated to participate in a national Bible reading event hosted by conservative evangelicals on Tuesday, during which he is expected to recite Scripture that was read by one of his supporters at the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The president’s participation in the weeklong “America Reads the Bible” initiative follows what some critics have called “idolatrous” and “blasphemous” behavior from the president, including his public attacks on Pope Leo XIV and his promotion of himself as a Christlike figure.
The White House on Friday touted the initiative, which is being hosted by the Christian nationalist group Christians Engaged, a political advocacy organization with ties to election deniers. Organizers say the event is for “commemorating 250 years of the Bible in America.” Trump has aligned himself with Christian conservatives seeking to erode the separation between church and state. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner — two Trump administration officials with ties to Christian extremists — are also scheduled to participate in the initiative.
A website for the initiative says Trump — a man found liable for sex abuse and whose familiarity with Bible verses has been questioned in embarrassing fashion — is scheduled to read from 2 Chronicles 7:11–22. As CNN reported, it was recited by the “Cowboys for Trump” founder during the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and by another Trump ally years earlier to portray the president as a divine instrument:
The verse also gained public attention when the founder of “Cowboys for Trump,” Couy Griffin, prayed over the crowd at the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot. But Trump’s ties to the verse go back even further, according to the Christian Post. Soon after his 2016 victory, evangelist Anne Graham Lotz, Billy Graham’s daughter, said it was a sign that God was answering the prayer of his people, just like in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
How predictably Trumpian: The president will recite a Bible verse — but it will be a verse that has been used to lionize him. Noteworthy here is that even as Trump has faced criticism from fellow conservatives over his idolatrous behavior, he and some members of his party appear to be doubling down on likening the president to Christ.
And we can fully anticipate similar displays in the months ahead. I recently wrote about the Trump administration’s Christian nationalist plans to celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, which are slated to include a Christian “revival” event being hosted on the National Mall in Washington next month.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.