Trump to take part in 'America Reads the Bible' streaming event

by · UPI

April 21 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump will read verses from the Old Testament that will be streamed across the country Tuesday evening as part of a week-long "America Reads the Bible" event to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Trump's reading of 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 will go out online on the faith-based Pure Flix app and streamed via the America Reads the Bible website a week after he recorded the two-and-a-half minute passage to camera, reading from the bible in the Oval Office.

The recording will also be played at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C.

The White House confirmed Trump's involvement to USA Today on Monday.

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Other members of the administration, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were among almost 500 people taking part in the event which was organized by Christians Engaged, a non-profit that promotes change through prayer, voting and civic participation.

CNN said the specific verses voiced by Trump, which say God will heal the nation if God's people "will humble themselves," have long represented a clarion call for the Christian-right in the United States.

Christians Engaged founder and president Bunni Pounds told CNN the group had reserved the passage for an elected official and that she had personally prayed that Trump would agree to read it.

"I've just been praying with a small group of people, asking the Lord to move to allow our president to pray this prayer, the words of God that he would hear," said Pounds.

Trump's participation comes at a time when his relationship with Christians in the United States is under pressure over a now-deleted AI-generated social media post that appeared to show him as a Christ-like figure dispensing healing to the sick and a high-profile spat online with Pope Leo XIV over the war in Iran.

Leo has disputed Trump's claim the war is a just one that is backed by God.

The war of words has exposed tensions between two rival interpretations of Christ, the warrior version in Revelations and the historical version informed by the evidence of what Jesus actually said and did in the knowledge that the Bible is not a historically reliable text.

A growing number in the former group are gravitating toward a so-called "MAGA Jesus" movement in which Trump plays a pivotal role.

Trump said in a statement issued Friday that the event would re-dedicate America as "one Nation under God."

"I applaud every citizen participating in the America Reads the Bible initiative. Together, we will honor Holy Scripture, renew our faith, usher in a historic resurgence of religion on American shores and rededicate the United States as one Nation under God," he said.

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from establishing a state religion -- no official religion -- with courts generally interpreting that as meaning governments may only assist religion for secular purposes, neither promoting nor inhibiting religion.

However, the Federal Courts of the United States website says the exact definition of "establishment" is not clear, although in the past it would have referred to prohibiting state-sponsored churches, such as the Church of England.

This week in Washington

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing on the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services in the Rayburn House Office Building near the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo