https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-christians-angry-trump-god-173235981.htmlPortions:
Responses to Trump's social media announcement called the endorsement "sacrilege," "heresy" and "borderline offensive" and cite lessons directly from the Bible that suggest taking advantage of people's faith for money should be condemned.
"It is a bankrupt Christianity that sees a demagogue co-opting our faith and even our holy scriptures for the sake of his own pursuit of power and praise him for it rather than insist that we refuse to allow our sacred faith and scriptures to become a mouthpiece for an empire," said Rev. Benjamin Cremer on X.
Jason Cornwall, a pastor from South Carolina, said on X that Trump's Bible endorsement was a violation of one of the Ten Commandments of the Hebrew Testament that forbids taking God's name in vain.
However, the criticism doesn't end with whether or not Trump's endorsement is un-Christian or not. In fact, it's just the beginning.
Historian and author Jemar Tisby says the whole project echoes the values of Christian nationalism the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation and the government should work to sanction Christianity on a national scale. The tenets of Christian nationalism are historically tied to prejudice, nativism and white supremacy.
"There's a very long tradition of what is included and what is not included in the Bible," Tisby told CNN.
"What has caused outrage with this Bible is that it includes the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, and even the lyrics to a Lee Greenwood song. So it's adding to the Bible, and it's adding specific political documents to the Bible that completely erase the separation of church and state."
Tisby, who holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, has written about the dangers of Christian nationalism both for the country and the Christian faith.
"What's so pernicious about this is it plays on people's devotion to God and their love of country, either of which by themselves could be innocuous or even good," he said.
"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."