Amid the controversy of Donald Trump endorsing, promoting, and reportedly earning royalties from the "God Bless the USA Bible," Lee Greenwood, the creator of the book, is speaking out to defend the ex-president.
He says there's no difference between when Trump took the presidential oath of office by placing his hand on a bible, and now endorsing Greenwood's version of the book, which sells for $59.99.
"You have to remember that when President Trump took his oath of office, he put his hand on a Bible to swear that he would defend the country and the Constitution," says Greenwood, a singer-songwriter whose "God Bless the U.S.A." has been used by many Republicans over the past few decades, with Trump playing it at his rallies.
Greenwood, speaking on the far-right media outlet Real America's Voice, also says that Trump's endorsement merely telegraphs that he believes the "same thing" that every other American believes.
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"This is just more of the same except for now, he's actually telling the world and telling our country and all of its citizens, I will protect you and I will make sure that you know that I believe in the same thing you believe in, that this country was founded on faith."
Not all Americans are Christian. A survey last month found seven out of 10 Americans oppose or are skeptical of Christian nationalism. And experts – not to mention founding father John Adams – have said America was not founded as a Christian nation.
In 2022 religious liberty expert Amanda Tyler, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC), told the Center for American Progress, "I believe that the single biggest threat to religious freedom in the United States today is Christian nationalism."
Nor do all Christians support Trump's endorsement of the "God Bless the USA Bible."
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"Catholics on social media criticized Trump for using the Bible to make a buck, with some saying that if the real estate mogul thought it was so important for every American to have a Bible, then he should give it away for free — instead of selling it for $59.99," The National Catholic Register reports. "For others, the most egregious offense was that the God Bless The USA Bible packaged the divinely inspired Word of God together with political documents, mixing the sacred and the profane."
Watch Greenwood's remarks below or at this link.
Lee Greenwood says Trump selling Bibles is no different from when he put his hand on the Bible when he took his oath of office. pic.twitter.com/EacTx1aooe
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 29, 2024
