As I was cruising around some of the blogs I frequent, I came across something that I found quite disturbing. It seems that Thomas Nelson Publishing is coming out with an American Patriots Bible. It is a Bible that has stories, articles, quotes, and photos throughout, showing how the Bible is liked to the founding, and formation, of America. You can view the promo video here. Greg Boyd has already written some very thoughtful responses (his review is on the Out of UR blog, in two parts, one and two).
I agree that the Bible had a role to play in our nation, but I fell that creating a Bible like this can only strengthen the marriage that already is too strong between the Jesus way and the American way. The Bible has influenced many nations, cultures, and people, even since the letters, stories, and songs in it we first circulated around. However, it is one thing to say that and quite another to claim that your particular country used that Bible, and because of that, God has blessed your country and look at it in a special way. While that is not explicitly said in this Bible (it might be, I have not read the whole thing), it is at least implied in the promo video. But what about the bad things our country has done? Let us remember that the Bible was mis-used to justify the mass slaughter of Native Americans as well as slavery. I wonder if those stories are in this Bible?
I am not against the stories about how the Bible has played a role in our country. I would not have thought twice about a book about that. But putting those stories in the middle of the Biblical text is at best misguided, and at worse idolatrous. It helps to reenforce that idea that we are a "Christian Nation," and further the dangerous mixing of nationalism and faith.
Let us remember that the Bible, and the amazing story that is contained in it, is something for ALL people, and shows a God that desperately loves all of humanity.
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