America (Almost Never) Reads the Bible  🔗 **Source:** [America (Almost Never) Reads the Bible](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb5uteFBfMk) Hey everybody, I'm Dan Mlelen >> and I'm Dan Beecher and this is Data Over Dogma where we increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion and we combat the spread of misinformation. About the same, how are you and your cardigan today, Dan? >> Uh just chilling. Just having a nice It's probably one of the last card days that I'm going to be having this season. It's >> It's been a little chilly. There's a chill in the air. >> Yeah. >> Here in the Salt Lake Valley, >> you are climate controlled in your apartments. I don't know. >> Yeah, I have some control. It's true. But, you know, I like I like to be influenced by the outside world. I like >> We're going to approximate what's going on outside. Just Okay. >> Uh the climate control inside might be a problem. I might have to take off the cardigan as we move forward. We'll have to see. >> It's gonna get heated. >> Boom. Uh anyway, we got some stuff to talk about today. Uh we're we're getting topical uh as as we discuss America reading the Bible. Oddly, it doesn't seem like all of America was invited. Uh but many uh very a lot of conservative religious types are doing a marathon reading the Bible as you and I are speaking right now. It is happening. By the time it gets out to our our friends out in the internet world, it will have hopefully mercifully ended. >> It will have changed nothing. Everyone will have forgotten about it. But yes, it will have happened. >> Yes, indeed. So, we'll we'll chat a little bit about that. Uh so, let's just dive in. >> Let's get topical. >> And the topical uh the reason I don't know like is the Bible topical? I think that's a funny question because the >> increasingly yes, the Bible is controlling our lives to a degree that we have not experienced uh in in our generation. So >> yeah, it's it's it's I mean it's perpetually topical on our show. But uh >> but what has happened as as we sort of hinted at it was a a whole bunch of people uh a a laundry list of people have each uh been asked to read a small portion of the Bible and it's just a cavalcade of uh of of sort of people from the religious right. I I sincerely doubt anyone on the even, you know, prominent Christians on the left side of the spectrum were invited to this. >> I I I did find out that they did uh reach out to some politicians and uh some religious leaders. I don't know which ones exactly. They said that they did invite some and uh they turned it down. So, and and I don't know if it was just a token invitation to to a couple of people, but overwhelmingly, yes. This is this is the who's who in people you don't want to know. Um, >> we should list off a few of the people that we're talking about. >> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Well, I the one that I was most surprised by, >> Kathy Ireland. >> Oh, >> yes. for model from model yes who was who was like a a big one of the one of the most important models in the 90s I guess maybe 80s and 90s I don't remember exactly when her heyday was but >> yeah it was it was around that time period but um yes I I recall I recall knowing about Kathy Ireland as a as a younger man um >> knowing about Gotcha she's she u is going to be reading uh as of today. This we have not arrived at the New Testament, but she's going to be reading Luke 21 through Luke 22:38. >> Wait a minute. That just seems like the end of Luke 22. Um, why would they? Um, by the way, when I looked up on the Christians Engaged website, which is kind of the home base for this America Reads the Bible thing. >> Uhhuh. >> I don't know who they had putting this together, but they needed an editor. Um, it was bad. was real bad. >> Um, but uh, yeah, Kathy Ireland, Dallas Jenkins, >> the creator of um, >> now I forget the name of the show. >> I don't know anything about Dallas Jenkins. I would never >> the the Jesus television show. Um, that >> Oh. Oh. Uh, uh, uh, oh. Oh my gosh. Why can't >> I don't remember what it's called. Anyway, >> I keep the in my head. Um, the departed keeps popping into my head and I'm like I'm almost positive it's not the departed. That just may be the residual Boston um in uh in me, but it was the chosen. Sorry. >> The chosen. >> The chosen. Yes. Um >> Okay. >> I I hope my friend who is one of the actors in that television show does not listen to this episode, but >> you got it eventually. >> Yeah. I mean, there's a whole bunch of politicians, you know, there's Mike Johnson, there's Ted Cruz and his papy Raphael Cruz are both are both taking >> passages. We got Mike Huckabe. >> Yeah. >> Um Dan Patrick of of uh your grandparents will sacrifice their lives for the economy fame during the the pandemic. Uh Paula White Kaine, the uh spiritual adviser, I guess. Uh mascot for um Trumpian religiosity. >> Uh Erica Kirk is there, Ronda Santis, Pete Heg Seth, >> who uh is just a never- ending fountain of ridiculousness. >> You got you got Ronda Ronda Santis who's the the the governor of Florida. You've got te Greg Abbott Abbott, the the governor of Texas. You got the governor of Tennessee, I think. >> Uh and then out of nowhere, you got Victoria Jackson, uh who was the a goofball on SNL for a couple years. >> Oh gosh. >> For a few years, actually. She was on there for a long time and now she's just a uh >> a lunatic. Uh >> oh jeez. Leanne WAC. Uh >> okay. >> Country singer. >> Yeah. Um, I I recognize a song or two of hers, >> but I I got to say we're burying the lead. >> The lead >> because uh what we're building to is that President of the United States, Donald John Trump, uh reading uh which is never a good idea. >> More like more like grimacing at um he definitely uh I watch I did watch the video of him. Uh and here's the thing. So, so yes, they released his video. He he didn't he didn't go to the event and read it from there. >> No. >> And part of the reason becomes very clear when you watch the video and they have these weird cuts back and forth from one camera angle to another. Very making it very clear that they're like these are edit. >> They had to stitch it together. Yeah. >> And there were still a couple of places where I where you can hear that they've done something digitally to fix what he said. and he still got a lot of things wrong. This was he got it wildly wrong a bunch of times like >> my my favorite is in the very first verse that he read. So he was responsible for 2 Chronicles 7 11-22. >> Yeah. >> 12 verses is all he had to read. And the very first word, very first verse he got out prosperiously. Um cuz I think he was he he started un thinking the word was prosperous or prosperity or something like that and then it was it was prosperously and he went prosperiously and um through his clenched teeth and yeah it was it was a struggle to hear him struggle to read uh these passages. the and I think the the main parts of uh the the whole passage that he was chosen for that was chosen for him is that um he this is the part that says uh if my people who are called by my name humble themselves pray seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land >> and that's that's from the NRSVUE. He read from the King James version. Obviously, he >> read from the New King James Version. >> Was it the New King James Version? >> Indeed, it was. That is the version that the entire event is focused on. >> Oh. >> But he didn't even get that right. >> Yeah. >> Um cuz he I know he uh he and Lee Greenwood are are selling their uh their God Bless America Bibles. Yeah. >> That are that are King James versions. But the >> but I I I think I think that the idea of the organizers of this event was that uh they didn't want to make anyone have to do some of the words that the KJV uh some of the more arcane words. >> Yeah. They didn't want to have to hear anybody say um he who pissth against the wall. Um, >> but also like there are big words that are that are, you know, not in common circulation anymore. And I think some people uh, including our president, >> forgive me, I I just don't think he has the acumen to get at some of these words. But I what's amazing is they gave him you rightly point out which what portion of this uh of his bit what they were trying to highlight. >> Yeah. >> But he didn't know that. He just like literally droned through the entire thing at a monotone >> not understanding a word of it. >> Yeah. It was and also it's it was a pretty small thing. Like you could have given him there's a bunch of stuff you could have given him. This was a shocking thing. Like literally when you find out that he's willing to do it, you find the best thing for the president to do. >> Well, well, here's the thing. The uh the opening celebration, the main the big song that that some guy named Phil King, I don't I've never I don't think I've ever heard of Phil King. I don't know if you've heard of Phil King. He's he was performing his original theme song. So the theme song for the event is called Heal Our Land. >> Uh >> so so this was very clearly the money shot of the whole thing. And they got a grimace Trump face uh in that in that uh money shot. But yeah, it was and the idea seems to be that we're hurting as a nation. Read the Bible. that will magically fix things, >> right? Wii >> which is not how things work. Uh but also >> I I mean it's not how it's worked yet, Dan. You don't know. Maybe it's coming. >> Maybe that teapot is out there in space circling around as we speak. You can't say it's not. But the and the idea seems to be that, you know, we all we all need to just read the Bible and just say we're Christian and then God will be like boom, healed. >> And and it's it's one of the most pathetic brands of Christian nationalism I've ever seen. And and in no small part because the list of people who are reading is a who's who of not just hatred but just of degeneracy as well. like the guy who who uh read the main passage is a serial sexual predator. >> Yeah. >> Is a serial adulterer. Not only that, you know, there are a bunch of people like God can forgive people. God forgives people. These we can't blame him for past sins. Trump has never once owned up to doing those things, >> right? >> Said he was sorry for doing those things. He's even said he has no need for repentance. >> Like this this is not a >> Yeah. He was he was asked if he had ever repented for anything and he was like, "No, not that I can think of." >> Yeah. He says he doesn't do anything wrong. So why does he need repentance and on multiple occasions he said that? So this is this is your guy, >> right? >> This is your guy. The guy we all heard. >> This is this is the guy. I mean, the heal the land part is nice, but if you go back just a few words, as you pointed out, uh, it says, "Humble themselves and pray to and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways." >> Yeah. >> And I don't see humbling of self happening. >> No. >> Whatsoever. >> No. And when they when they say wicked ways here, they obviously mean being a woman or being black or being trans >> or being an immigrant or >> Yeah. being an immigrant, wanting health care that you can afford. These are the the iterations, the manifestations of wickedness that this public reading of the Bible is supposed to uh magically purge from from the land. And the these are the people who are responsible for most of the social ills that plague our land today. Um this is it's such performative piety on the part of deeply bad people. >> Um like I I mentioned Dan Patrick was the guy who during the during the pandemic was like yeah your grandparents will be okay dying so that we can have you know so that the economy can recover. Yeah, that's like how much of a misanthrope do you have to be to to actually say that publicly and then start accusing other people of you know engaging in in con just making it all up >> right >> uh that and you know Eric Mataxis he was on the list too what was Eric Mataxis read Isaiah 52 and 53 he got to read the big Isaiah 53 suffering servant uh song And yeah, he's he's out there saying this is all everything was a hoax. Everything that has ever happened that uh that has been bad for the right has been has been a hoax. Everything from Trump having the election stolen from him in 2020 all the way to uh COVID and and everything in between these these people are causing like um you said Ronda Ronda Santis was on there, right? >> Yeah. >> Ronda Santis is causing all kinds of suffering. >> Yeah. in Florida uh that is spilling out into other states as well. >> And it's not just, you know, he's trying to solve a problem. These people aren't just trying to solve societal problems and it accidentally causes some harm and they just consider that damage. >> It's it's absolutely baked into what they're trying to do. They want to punish people who disagree with them. They want to hurt people that they don't like. So, so like you know you you look at how ICE is handling uh has been handling people for the last year uh in terms of just not even bothering to look at you know I I heard a story the other day where a guy who is an American citizen who had a real ID ID on him which you can't get unless you're a an American citizen, >> right? And like he was he was arrested because he was brown and he had, you know, he had a a last name that ended in EZ or whatever. And he uh he was arrested and driven around town and, you know, for hours and hours and then, you know, locked up with a bunch of other people. And they didn't they he had the the documents that he needed on his person that whole time and they refused to look at it. Yeah. Because the pain because the suffering because the the cruelty is the point. >> Yeah. The these are there are people who want to get off on being jerks. This is the the oyal rules theory of uh of governance. Yeah. And it's it's so disgusting that these are the people who are pretending to be the representatives of uh of Christianity. And it it's not that they are not. They are representatives of of a particular brand of Christianity that unfortunately has been too prominent for for uh far too long in our nation. But they are are clearly worshippers of power more than anything else. That's what this is really all about. this hard to make an argument against that. You know, there are some people, I'm sure, that are in this lit group of people who aren't >> just sort of right-wing ideologues. Obviously, all of the politicians I don't trust to be anything other than just right right-wing ideologues, but I'm sure that some of the the pastors who have come in are just, you know, are actual they they're just trying to to, you know, their hearts in a right place. >> Yeah. Yeah. I I have no I have no doubt in my mind that there are an awful lot of like I saw some of the people here were were prison uh pastors and things like that. There are a lot of people going through a lot of stuff to try to make lives better for for certain people. >> Yeah. >> But along the way, they're hitching their wagon to a movement >> and the the movement is not concerned with helping individuals. The movement is concerned with power. And these folks have have gotten caught up in it because there's their particular brand of Christianity is too entangled with this movement. Even if they are trying to help the poor, even if they are trying to help the incarcerated, even if they are trying to help the sick and the immigrants and others, they are too entangled in a movement that is concerned with with structuring power and values uh and and boundaries so as to advance their right-wing authoritarian and social dominance orientation identity politics. Um, Jenna Ellis, Trump's former uh lawyer, I think, uh, is on there. Betsy >> DVOS. >> Betsy DVOS. Betsy DVOS. I don't know if you recall watching any of the hearings for her to be education secretary. She got so humiliated in those hearings and very clearly did not have the foggiest idea what she was there to do or what was going on. >> Yeah. She was >> they were still like approved. Um >> um Mike Pompeo was reading Franklin Graham was reading some Dean Kaine >> Superman himself like the worst Superman >> read uh read John chapter 5. >> Yeah. So that's now now it's now it's getting personal to you when Superman is doing this. I just I want to know who read I should have done this research. I should have figured this out before we went in. Yeah. >> I want to know who read the bit about do not pray publicly and uh you know go to your closet to pray. I want to know who read the part that said hey maybe don't make it about loud uh and and sort of public you know displays of your religiosity but instead actually just be good and do it for the sake of itself. >> Yeah. That so that's Matthew 6. That's the sermon on the mount. Yeah. Um, let me see if the where is the cuz I' I've got the website open, but uh they they make it such a pain to find this stuff. >> So, it's not it's not happening yet. Uh cuz right now I think we're still in we're in the middle we're in the the late Jeremiah chapters. I don't recognize any of the the names there, but um if you give me a second, I'll I'll look that up because I remember some there somebody was reading Matthew 5. Mike Pompeo was reading Matthew 5 and I was like, woof. >> Mike Pompeo. Wow. >> He gets the biatitudes, huh? >> Yeah, that's >> um so uh I and I remember thinking, okay, who gets the rest of the uh sermon on the mount? And I I think I didn't recognize the name, but um we'll look it up real quick. >> I I mean, it's just one of those things where uh that's actually, you know, that is so pertinent to this, I would say. I don't know. You you tell me because you you know that verse better than I do. You know, I uh I so I I don't know uh if that if that would apply. It feels like it would apply. It feels like this uh you know this whole thing is such a performative display it feels like it's it like that particular bit of the sermon on the mount is apppropo but am am I am I reading too much into it is part of my question uh so the I I think it it would be apppropo I think when when we think about what what kind of stuff is is God asking for in order to according to 2 Chronicles heal the land. Well, what does everybody around 2 Chronicles have to say? Uh, basically generate a just and a righteous society. Uh, have mercy, do justice, uh, all those kinds of things. Some some dude named Chris Kubal is, uh, was reading the rest of the sermon on the mount. And Chris is the chief program officer at Intercessors for America, a national network of state leaders who are mobilizing intercessors to pray for and engage with state legislators. So, I'm I'm not hopeful that uh Chris really is concerned for what is actually being advocated for in the sermon on the mount, >> right? >> Um >> one wonders if he'll just if he'll do a sort of she >> do not pray on the >> Chris is a she. >> Okay. >> Um well, Chris is a woman. um as as far as I can tell, I imagine that the pronouns are going to be what what uh what we think they are. But um >> yeah, one I I can't imagine that anyone invited to this event has pronouns that do not match their uh their assigned at birth gender, but uh you know, >> who knows? I yeah, it it seems impossible that that would be a thing. >> And it it it baffles me that there's a whole organization that people are obviously making millions and millions of dollars off of inviting people to pray for stuff to happen. Um >> yeah, >> that's not how things work. >> Uh yeah. All right. Well, I I don't know that there's that much more to say about it other than, you know, this It's an event where, and this I I think what's made clear, especially clear by Trump's uh entry into this, is that this is a drone. This isn't no one's trying to highlight anything scriptural in this. No one's trying to uh bring out a message >> uh from from the Bible for this. >> They're just they're just saying all of the words of it. And then uh you know and and I assume probably there are speeches before and after that are actually like more more about what they're really getting after. >> Mhm. >> But the as you say the the this is designed not to accomplish anything. It is just for show. >> Oh it's performative. Yeah. 100%. That's that's what this is all about. Now, now certainly there are people who believe this is going to affect some kind of change and a lot of people are sharing it on on Twitter. For instance, the the the first time I saw Trump grimacing at the camera trying to squeak out 2 Chronicles 7, it was because somebody shared it on Twitter and they were like, "The president of the United States reading the Bible from the Oval Office. This is a new world with, you know, we're through the looking glass people. This is unreal." and and it's it doesn't it's not going to change anything. It's it's just performative to make people feel like they're um make people feel important, like they're making a difference when they're doing nothing. But they're also I mean there is this secondary thing that they're trying to do which is they're making themselves feel important but they're also trying to make non-Christians or people who disagree with them feel like they don't have a place at the table feel like their their voices are not important. Their voices cannot be heard over the cacophony of uh >> yeah look look how representative this is of of >> right the the real America. So I think a lot of the messaging here is if you're not one of us, if you're not a Christian, if you're not, you know, if you're Muslim, if you're Hindu, if you're atheist, if you're whatever, uh you're not a real American. This is what real Americans do. >> Yeah. And it's coinciding with a a push to for people to to start attending church more. Like Ben Shapiro was on a show and somebody was like, "What what would what does a nation have to do? But what does a a broken nation have to do to heal? And he said, "Go to church." >> The Jewish church. >> Well, well, yeah. What he said was, "So, I would, you know, if you're Jewish, go to synagogue, but go to church because this is a Christian nation." And um and it's like well I I don't know if Ben Shapiro knows the period of the founding when the US Constitution was constructed and our nation was created is the period of lowest church attendance and church membership in all of US history up until now. >> Right? >> So we're kind of by not going to church returning to the founders and and their approach to uh to things. So yeah, going going to church if going to if all going to church does is make you um support ICE and hate your neighbor, you're one your your church is doing it wrong, but also just the act of going to church or just the act of reading the Bible doesn't accomplish what you think it's going to accomplish >> precisely because it's just performative. It is just a way to to tow the line to put on display your willingness to sign off on these credences so that other people will think you're a real one and that just advances your own interests. It's all selfish. It's all entirely about advancing their own interests. >> Yeah. I you know I think coming up soon you you and I need to do a uh a thing about the the we'll do a whole segment about the claim that the founding fathers quoted the Bible more than any other book or whatever. >> Oh gosh. I've heard that for years now. >> And yes, we're definitely going to need to do a segment on that one. >> Yeah. All right. Well, if you'd like to hear us blather a little bit more, you can always get some uh really good bonus content over on patreon.com where our patrons uh at the $10 a month level get the afterparty that we do every single week. Uh as well as early and adree access to every episode of the show. Thanks so much to Roger Gaudy for editing. Thanks to JJ for being our producer. And thanks to all y'all for tuning in. We'll talk to you again next time. Bye everybody., America (Almost Never) Reads the Bible, YouTube, 01kqsengx2bkn7h2bw57m9p3c1.