October 2, 2026
President Donald Trump and many of his leading Christian supporters and top Republicans are taking part this week in a marathon reading of the Bible in an America 250-themed event billed as encouraging a “return to the spiritual foundation that has shaped our country.”
The America Reads the Bible event — with each participant reading a passage aloud — is being livestreamed from the Museum of the Bible in Washington and other locations. It featured a video of Trump from the Oval Office on Tuesday evening reading an Old Testament passage that called for national repentance in ancient Israel.
Trump recited the passage from his desk with his hands folded on an open Bible in front of him, though he was looking straight into the camera. The video cut back and forth between two camera angles.
The Bible is “indelibly woven into our national identity and way of life,” Trump said in a statement commemorating the event. The statement cited historical figures such as the Puritan leader John Winthrop as “imploring his fellow Christian settlers to stand as a beacon of faith for all the world to see.”
Bunni Pounds, founder of Christians Engaged, organizer of the event, said that reading the Bible alone isn't enough. “Faith without works is dead,” she said, adding, “We need the word first to bring faith into our life.”
The Bible event comes just a week after Trump drew rare criticism from his evangelical supporters for circulating a social media meme in which a white-robed Trump appeared as a Jesus-like healer surrounded by patriotic symbols. Trump removed the image from his Truth Social site while insisting he was depicted as a doctor, not Jesus.
Other high-ranking officials have been or will be reading biblical passages in person or by video in the event, which began Sunday and concludes Saturday. They include Cabinet officials such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson and several other Republican members of Congress. Prominent evangelical supporters of Trump who are participating include evangelist Franklin Graham, pastor Jack Graham, and pastor Paula White-Cain, who heads Trump's White House Faith Office.
Pounds said that the organization invited Democratic members of Congress, as well as leaders of some denominations that might be considered progressive, but that they didn’t accept.
Each speaker is taking a turn in the ongoing reading of the 66 books of the Bible as recognized by Protestants.
Christians Engaged, the organizer, is a nonprofit whose stated mission includes “discipling Americans on biblical worldview and their responsibilities to pray, vote, and engage.”
Trump read 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Pounds noted that the Chronicles passage has for decades been a major theme at annual National Day of Prayer events and that organizers invited Trump to read from it. “It’s a powerful statement that he decided to read that passage,” she said.
The Bible-reading marathon comes just weeks before a May 17 event called a “National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving,” to be held on the National Mall. It's the climactic event of “America Prays,” a project Trump announced last year in conjunction with America 250, calling for prayer for the country and to “rededicate ourselves to one nation under God.”
Several of the groups and individuals involved in America Prays are also participating in this week’s Bible reading event.
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