Tennessee-endorsed Aitken Bible tied to national movement to erode church and state

A rare edition of the Bible recently named one of Tennessee’s first official state books is an integral part of a nationwide movement to erode the separation of church and state.

The Aitken Bible, an edition of the King James Bible often dubbed the “Bible of the Revolution” thanks to its status as the first English-language Bible printed in an independent United States, was named one of 10 official states books in late April, the first state to do so.

While the antique edition is far from a household name, its presence is increasingly common within conservative Christian political circles, with many supporters using it to blur the long-held boundaries between church and state.

Proponents of the Aitken Bible have embarked on an aggressive lobbying campaign in recent years to boost its prominence, meeting with and presenting copies to top Republican officials in Tennessee and across the country, ranging from local representatives to governors and even a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

In Tennessee, top GOP officials — including Gov. Bill Lee, House Speaker Cameron Sexton, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn — all have received copies, as have at least five members of the state's U.S. House delegation and more than two dozen state lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, and former Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, are listed as founding members of the First American Bible Project, and its Franklin-based nonprofit Aitken Bible Historical Foundation, the largest Aitken Bible reproduction printer in the world, according to social media posts made by the group.

Stephen Skelton, founder of the Aitken Bible Historical Foundation and the First American Bible Project, said the group aims to provide the Bible to schools and lawmakers as a historical resource.

"Not as the devotional application, but rather as an object lesson that the teachers will use with topics they're already teaching about the economic factors of the American Revolution," he said in an interview.

Although Skelton insists his group's work is strictly historical and nonpartisan, he has personally expressed skepticism about the separation between church and state and pointed to the Aitken Bible to back up his views.

Experts and historians have called the rise of the Aitken Bible's popularity a "misrepresentation" of history, and First Amendment experts have expressed concern about its use in eroding the wall between church and state.

“This new law is mostly symbolic, but I do think it violates the spirit of the First Amendment and also the Tennessee State Constitution, which says that no preference shall be given to any religious establishment or mode of worship,” said Ryan Jayne, senior policy counsel at the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “I think there is an intent to favor Christianity, but they are trying to couch this in a historical context. …They wanted to include (this book) to try to go along with this myth that the Founders intended to create a Christian country.”

Proponents push Aitken Bible with state, national lawmakers

Under the glitzy ceiling of Mar-A-Lago — the historic Florida resort now famous for serving as former President Donald Trump’s residence — Skelton presented his original copy of the Aitken Bible to attendees at an early March fundraiser.

The private event served as the annual fundraiser for the 917 Society — a nonprofit that supplies school children with pocket Constitutions and one which Skelton often partners with.

For the First American Bible project, which allows donors to receive a copy of the book with a sponsorship of a one sent into a public school of their choosing, the event served mostly as a photo opportunity for donors to see the historic book. But it also showed just how well connected the Aitken Bible movement is within conservative political circles.

A review of the First American Bible Project’s website shows photos of meet-and-greets between Skelton and nearly every high-ranking Republican official in Tennessee at private dinners, campaign events and events held at the state Capitol that go back years.

At least 15 of the 27 Senate Republicans have received copies of, or have been photographed with, an Aitken Bible, along with at least 14 of the 75 House Republicans. The Tennessean could find no Democrats in either chamber who received or were photographed with an Aitken Bible.

Some of these meetings happened shortly before legislation was passed this year elevating the book to an official state symbol.

Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, and Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington, the two sponsors of the Tennessee bill, were pictured numerous times with the First American Bible Project months before filing the bill.

Rose's support of the Aitken Bible has gone back years, with a 2022 social media post showing him meeting with Skelton and Weaver, the former state lawmaker. The post references Rose's gift of "five (Aitken Bibles) to five superintendents," which helped "open the doors to put 97 (Aitken Bibles) back into schools."

On top of members of the General Assembly, photos show numerous county and city mayors across the state meeting with Skelton, as well as expressing support for the inclusion of the Aitken Bible in secular settings. Similar photos show a host of county Republican groups with the Bible, including the Claiborne County GOP, which showcased it at their 2024 Freedom Dinner and called the Aitken Bible "a solution by patriots for patriots."

At the national level, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Columbia, introduced the text of the Aitken Bible into the Congressional Record and introduced a resolution to recognize it as a "historical document of the United States Congress." The resolution has not moved forward.

Shortly before he introduced the resolution, Ogles met with the First American Bible Project multiple times, according to photos on social media, including alongside U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in November 2022, as well as in January 2023 and April 2023, when he was given a personalized copy of the Aitken Bible days before submitting it to Congressional Record.

A handwritten letter from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to one the world’s premiere dealers of antique Bibles in 2014 expressed his gratitude after Thomas received a copy of the Aitken Bible, saying that it has “remained on his desk here at work” since then, according to a blog post made by a church that partnered with the dealer.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, also received a copy of the Aitken Bible in early 2023 from the First American Bible Project and conservative religious group Awake America Ministries as part of the two organizations 2023 initiative to "present First American Bibles to all elected leaders at the United States Capitol," according to a social media statement.

And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the oath of office with another original copy of the Aitken Bible in January 2023, loaned to the campaign from conservative commentator Glenn Beck.

Outside of government, Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty, former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, conservative author and actor Kirk Cameron and country music singer John Rich all have received copies of the book from the First American Bible Project.

Skelton insists his group is focused on 'just the historical'

Published in 1782, the Aitken Bible is equal parts a religious and largely-obscure historic text, as well as the only edition of the Bible with a Congressional stamp of approval for its accuracy in translation.

For Skelton, his goal is clear: bring the Aitken Bible into as many schools as possible to serve as a Revolutionary War history lesson.

"We brought (the Aitken Bible) back into print so that we can put this Bible into schools as an educational resource that illustrates the state academic standards for social studies regarding the American Revolution," he said.

The Aitken Bible does hold a unique place in America's economic history. In the fall of 1782, a committee of the Congress of the Confederation — which predated our current Constitution and the system of government it created — met to discuss the recent printing of the first complete Bible in an independent America by Philadelphian Robert Aitken.

Shortly before the meeting, Aitken had written asking that his work be published under the authority of Congress, and that he be commissioned as the official Bible printer for the new nation, noting his intent to put the Bibles into schools.

Although Congress did not acknowledge nor grant Aitken the rights to be the official Bible publisher of America, or his desire to place the text in schools, the 1452-page book was praised by members, who said they “highly approve(d)” of Aitken’s work to create the edition, according to Congressional Record.  

Satisfied by Aitken’s “care and accuracy in the execution of the work,” Congress authorized him to publish the edition as the new nation’s first printed religious text, a move of defiance against Britain’s publishing embargo on the colonies and a display of American ingenuity.

More:Fact check: Congress didn't print America's first Bible for use in public schools

Skelton said that this history is what inspires him to place the Bible in schools as an historic token.

"We've probably placed about 2,500 Bibles into public schools, and they're going into the hands of the teachers that are teaching the American Revolution," he said. "It's roughly something like 750 schools, because we're doing roughly three Bibles for each school on average. And we're covering about 11 states right now."

The majority of the reproduction Bibles have been placed into schools in Tennessee, Skelton said.

Only 25 original editions of the book are known to exist, and five of those — including Skelton's — are in private collections.

Skelton said he was inspired to begin the organization after a documentary from Cameron, the actor and influential evangelical activist. In the film "Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure," Cameron interviewed David Barton, Texan and political activist for Christian nationalist causes, about the Aitken Bible.

Barton, who owns one of the other remaining original Aitken Bibles, is the founder of WallBuilders, a Texas-based organization that promotes a revisionist Christianity-centric take on the founding of the United States as well as the rejection of the separation of church and state.

Within the Wallbuilders organization, Barton has been active in pushing the Aitken Bible as proof that the founders did not believe in the separation of church and state.

Skelton said Barton was just "a seed planter" for his organization.

"We're just friends," he said. "I have had the pleasure to have met him twice. And we've talked about what we're doing with (the Bible)."

Regarding Barton's explicit position on ending the separation of church and state, Skelton said that was "not what we're doing." Skelton stressed his group is focused on "just the historical perspective."

"We're just not political. We're historical," he said.

But Skelton has made comments questioning the separation of church and state at multiple private events. In video clips posted to the First American Bible Project's social media, Skelton questioned the establishment clause.

"We have been indoctrinated, in a somewhat subtle way, to the idea that our founders believed in a separation of church and state," he said in one video.

Skelton said in the video that the separation of church and state is often invoked by "those on the other side of the fence."

"How could our founding fathers have believed in a separation of church and state if I have a Bible approved by Congress?" he said. "There needs to be a reconciliation between these two arguments."

In an interview, Skelton reiterated that his organization is focused on secular, academic standards, regardless of his opinions.

Push for recognition of the Aitken Bible part of the growing 'patriot myth,' historian says

The push for the Aitken Bible to embody a sort of revised, religiously focused take on the founding of the nation has drawn attention from historians and First Amendment experts alike, who say the movement is a "misrepresentation" and an attempt to subvert the First Amendment's establishment clause.

Tad Stoermer, a public history lecturer at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the American Revolution, said the original intentions of the Aitken Bible were likely far less based in religion — and far more based in the marketing of a new American identity.

"In the historical moment, it's not a really any kind of adoption, or the endorsement of, the Christian faith," he said. "There are so many conversations in the Continental Congress about how they refer to divine providence in this broad,18th century enlightenment-sense of 'the Creator,' because it was recommended by the chaplains, and it was as seen as being a part of this nascent American identity."

The year before the edition was published, Stoermer said, was a hard year for the young nation. He said Congress was looking for ways to make statements about the existence of a coherent, independent United States — and they find it in the defiant printing of the Aitken Bible in the face of British law.

"That is what makes the Aitken Bible important at all: not as a religious book, but sort of for the symbolism that it represented at the time," said Stoermer, who runs a popular TikTok account where he discusses American history and the nation's founding.

Although the book mostly fell into obscurity following the Revolutionary War, Stoermer said the labelling of the Aitken Bible as the "Bible of the Revolution" began to pop up as the idea of American exceptionalism began to sweep the nation after World War II.

Stoermer said this created a certain nostalgia and placed the Founding Fathers on a pedestal that Stoermer calls the "patriot myth."

"Post-World War II is when American exceptionalism and particularly the patriot myth really take root," Stoermer said. "(The Aitken Bible) is deployed as this tool to represent what America is supposed to be, with this being the only Bible ever endorsed by the Continental Congress, particularly for Christian nationalists, that ends up taking on a huge level of symbolism. They serve as counterpoints for the United States against the supposed atheists of the communist world."

Throughout the turmoil and social upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, as the modern conservative movement solidified, the Aitken Bible remained a consistent, if small, piece of the puzzle, Stoermer said.

Warren Throckmorton, a retired psychology professor in Pennsylvania, has spent years pushing back on influential evangelicals figures such as pastor Mark Discroll and David Barton. He said the push of the Aitken Bible in modern times is simply to "redefine the separation of church and state."

"So often many say, 'I believe in the First Amendment, I believe in separation of church and state, but separation really just means that the government can't tell the church what to do. It doesn't mean that you can't have religion in government,'" he said. "You can't favor Christianity in some way."

In a response to questions from The Tennessean, Barton and his son, Tim Barton, reiterated the Congressional Record of the Aitken Bible's approval as defense of their position on the book.

"This Bible came into existence with the approval, endorsement and recommendation of Congress," they said in a statement.

They point to the phrase separation of church and state appearing in private letters from Thomas Jefferson and insist the founders did not necessarily want secular institutions.

"The restriction was on Congress passing a law," they said. "There was no restriction in acknowledging God."

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, said the focus on a Christian-centric government, swept along in part by the Aitken Bible, is part of a "larger trend."

"That larger trend is the undermining of church and state separation in this country," Laser said. "And we're seeing it in Texas and Florida, where chaplains can now replace certified school counselors and public schools. We just saw it in Louisiana, where now all public-school classrooms are going to be required to display the Ten Commandments. In Oklahoma, where our nation's first religious public charter school was set to open this fall. In Missouri, where lawmakers literally wrote their religious motivations for the abortion ban into the law. So it's definitely part of a larger story than Tennessee."

Laser said that the promotion of the Aitken Bible as a state book is, "without a doubt," a violation of the First Amendment.

"It doesn't matter whether the Bible is one of 10 or the only official state book," Laser said. "It's still a flagrant violation of church and state separation, because it's placing the government's favor on one religion and favoring one religious belief — and frankly, even one type of belief system within Christianity, because not everyone uses that Bible. That is a violation of our federal and your state's constitutional religious freedom protections."

The USA Today Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.

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