Bible as National Icon

Recent controversy over Keith Ellison's decision not to use the Bible in his swearing in ceremony swirled around the supposed iconic stature of the Bible in American political life. This holy book of the Christians (I'm assuming that we would want to use the full thing -- the Christian version) it seems is the glue that holds the nation together.

The question is: Are we talking about the content of the Bible or the book as "icon." Apparently, as Mark Toulouse of Brite Divinity School, demonstrates in his new book -- God in Public: Four Ways American Christianity and Public Life Relate -- our American reverence for the Bible has little to do with the content of the book. As a people we believe in great numbers that the Bible is at minimum divinely inspired (somewhere around 82% of us affirm this) and around 93% of us own a Bible. But as a people we know little about its content. Mark notes that in a Gallup poll only 49% of Americans could name Genesis as the first book of the Bible. 65% couldn't say who ruled Jerusalem during the time of Jesus (the Romans), and only 34% of Americans know who gave the Sermon on the Mount. Obviously we revere it more than we read it!

Now the Bible gained its "iconic" status thanks to George Washington who used a Masonic Bible in his inaugural ceremony. We use it in court rooms to swear in witnesses. Ronald Reagan declared 1983 the Year of the Bible. But, as Toulouse puts it: "The year of the Bible actually celebrated the iconic use of the Bible, not the Christian use of it" (p. 61).

As we saw in the recent controversy, the iconic stature of the Bible "subordinates biblical values to whatever American political thought might need at the moment." Politicians can grab biblical passages and use them whole cloth in ways that have nothing to do with the original context, such as when President Bush (#43) in an address after 9-11 could say "And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it." This is from John 1:5 and refers to Word of God's entrance into the world, but here it takes on a totally different meaning.

For the Christian the Bible should be more than icon, it should inform us in our faith and our practice. It should challenge us to walk with God and walk humbly and peaceably with our neighbor. And so we who wish to take the Bible seriously need to heed this warning:

The Bible reveals no special covenant between God and America. Growing out of the Jewish and Christian traditions, the Bible speaks primarily to the divine covenants God has made with those who make up these universal communities of faith, communities that extend well beyond the politics of any one nation. When the nation uses the Bible in iconic fashion, the nation honors the book as a symbol instead of taking the book seriously for its content. In this context, politicians, and even ministers and Christian social activists, can easily slip into the political misuse of the Bible's content to suit their own purposes. (p. 63)


And misuse it we have and will as long as the Bible is national icon. May we listen to this word of wisdom.

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