Bibles, Easter Eggs, and the Battle for Americas Soul: When Religion Becomes a Political Prop
Bibles, Easter Eggs, and the Battle for Americas Soul
What do a $59.99 leather-bound Bible, a Transgender Day of Visibility proclamation, and a White House Easter egg roll have in common? On the surface, not much. But scratch a little deeper and youll find a country still wrestling with the same question it has faced since its founding: where exactly is the line between faith and politics?
The line got blurrier than ever this past week.
When the Good Book Gets a Brand Deal
Donald Trump is now selling Bibles. Let that sink in for a moment. The former president—a man who has famously struggled to articulate his favorite Bible verse and who once referred to “Two Corinthians” instead of “Second Corinthians”—is now encouraging his followers to buy the “God Bless the USA” Bible for just under sixty dollars.
This isnt just any Bible, mind you. It also includes the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other founding documents. Its a package deal: salvation and patriotism, wrapped in leather and shipped to your door.
“Whats so pernicious about this is it plays on peoples devotion to God and their love of country, either of which by themselves could be innocuous or even good,” historian Jemar Tisby told CNN. “But in this effort, it is blending the two. And with Trump as the spokesperson, is conveying a very clear message about what kind of Christianity and what kind of love of nation he is promoting.”
Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat who also serves as senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, put it more bluntly. He pointed out that these Bibles join a long line of products bearing Trumps name—steaks, sneakers, and now Scriptures. But he sees something more troubling at work than mere merchandising.
“Religion is being used again, as one more proxy, as a tool in the culture wars,” Warnock told CNNs Dana Bash.
The Catholic in the White House
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden—a lifelong practicing Catholic who attends Mass regularly and keeps a rosary in his pocket—found himself on the receiving end of criticism from his own church.
Washingtons archbishop, Wilton Cardinal Gregory, told “Face the Nation” that while he believes Biden is sincere in his faith, the president picks and chooses which parts of Catholic teaching to embrace. On what the Church calls “life issues”—particularly abortion—Gregory said Biden isnt explicit enough about his personal views.
“There is a phrase that we have used in the past: a cafeteria Catholic, you choose that which is attractive and dismiss that which is challenging,” Gregory said.
Its a fascinating dynamic. The more overtly religious of the two candidates—the one who actually attends church and talks about his faith with genuine conviction—is the one being called out by his own religious leaders. Meanwhile, the one selling Bibles as merchandise is being embraced by many of those same voters.
The Easter Egg Controversy That Wasnt
Then there was the Easter Sunday kerfuffle.
Because of a quirk in the calendar, March 31 this year happened to be both Easter Sunday and the Transgender Day of Visibility—a day that has been observed on March 31 since 2009. The two days coincided by pure chance, but that didnt stop Bidens political opponents from pouncing.
“The Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter—which is the resurrecti on of Jesus Christ,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X. “Banning sacred truth and tradition—while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as Transgender Day—is outrageous and abhorrent.”
Bidens response, when asked about Johnsons comment during the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, was characteristically blunt: the speaker was “uninformed.”
Conservative critics also tried to attack Biden over the Easter Egg Roll itself, accusing him of banning religious-themed designs at the event. It turned out that this was a long-standing policy that was also in place during Trumps presidency. The whole thing felt like a tempest in a teapot—or perhaps a tempest in an Easter basket.
The Real Divide
These mini-dramas over religious signaling might feel silly on the surface. Easter eggs as an avenue of religious expression? Bibles as political merch? But they point to something deeper and more consequential.
A Pew Research Center survey from March found that while most Americans support the separation of church and state, and few want the US declared a Christian nation, theres a real split over what role the Bible should play in public life. Nearly half the country—49%—said the Bible should have “a great deal” or “some” influence on US laws. The other 51% said it should have “not much” or no influence at all.
Not surprisingly, theres a partisan divide. About two-thirds of Republicans want the Bible to influence American law, compared with just one-third of Democrats.
Meanwhile, a March survey from PRRI confirms what many have observed anecdotally: Americans are moving away from organized religion. The only major religious group thats growing is the “unaffiliated.”
But heres where it gets complicated. Separate PRRI research from February found that more than 30% of Americans might qualify as sympathetic to Christian nationalism—the idea that America was meant by God to be a Christian nation. In blue states like Massachusetts and Oregon, fewer than 20% of residents hold that view. In red states like North Dakota and Mississippi, its about half.
And heres the part that should give everyone pause: people sympathetic to Christian nationalism are more likely to say that political violence may be justified.
“This survey illustrates how strongly this dangerous political theology is driving support for Donald Trump and the MAGA movement and how thoroughly it has established itself as an ideological keystone in todays Republican Party,” said PRRI president Robert Jones.
What This Means for You
So what should we take from all this? A few things, perhaps.
First, the fusion of religion and patriotism isnt new in American politics, but the commercialization of it is reaching new heights. When a Bible comes with the Constitution and a presidential endorsement, something has shifted.
Second, the debate over faith in public life isnt going away. Its only intensifying as the country becomes less religious overall but more polarized about what that means.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, we should be careful about letting politicians define what faith means—whether theyre selling Bibles or being criticized for how they practice their own.
Religion, at its best, calls us to something higher than politics. It asks us to love our neighbor, care for the stranger, and seek justice. When it becomes just another tool in the culture wars—another product to sell, another wedge to drive—we all lose something in the process.
The question isnt whether faith should inform politics. For many Americans, it inevitably does. The question is whether we can tell the difference between genuine conviction and cynical marketing. Thats a test no Bible verse can help us pass.
Autorius
Mike Brown
Mike Brown – One of those authors who helps readers not get lost in today's news flow. He dives into political affairs as well as world events, social trends, and everyday stories that matter to everyone. The main focus of his work is fact-checking, clear language, and the ability to lay out the key points so that the reader gets a comprehensive and reliable picture of the topic in just a few minutes.
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