NEW YORK— Zondervan, a giant in Bible publishing, is in talks to produce a “God Bless the USA Bible” that includes America’s founding documents and will ship to customers this September to mark 20 years after 9/11, according to the Bible’s Tennessee-based seller.
In its last pages, the custom Bible pre-selling for $49.99 includes the full texts of the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence and pledge of allegiance. The holy book also includes licensed lyrics to the popular 1984 song by country music singer-songwriter Lee Greenwood, “God Bless the USA.” The song has a long history. It rose in prominence after the Gulf War and again after 9/11 in 2001. More recently it became known as the chorus for Trump rallies, but many artists have performed their own versions, including Dolly Parton and Beyoncé.
...On May 25, Kirkpatrick met with HarperCollins Christian Publishing representatives hoping to explore options to produce the “God Bless the USA” Bible with the New King James translation through Thomas Nelson.“They’re [HarperCollins] trying to figure a way to get it done,” Kirkpatrick said ahead of the meeting on Tuesday. “They want to keep everybody happy. They want to keep their fans on the left and right.”
In the end, HarperCollins decided to halt production of the “God Bless the USA” Bible. They worked “very graciously” with Kirkpatrick, he said, to give him digital files of the Bible that he plans to print with a King James translation that is not copyrighted. The whole ordeal only set him back a few hundred dollars, he said. When asked if he had paid for the first 1,000 Bibles that HarperCollins had agreed to print, Kirkpatrick said he wasn’t supposed to comment on that.
“Let’s just say I have [the money] back,” he said. “This doesn’t matter, whether they paid me back. The customer is going to get their product or they’ll get a refund… the God I believe in is running the show, not me.”
A HarperCollins representative said that there was not a financial transaction with Kirkpatrick.
In 2009, Thomas Nelson published the American Patriot’s Bible, which uses the New King James Version and is marketed as “the one Bible that shows how ‘a light from above’ shaped our nation.” The Bible does not include U.S. founding documents but includes several articles arguing America’s founding was divinely inspired, commentary like “Seven Principles of the Judeo-Chistian Ethic” and quotes about scripture from founding presidents. The patriot’s Bible is edited by Dr. Richard Lee, former president of the Pastors’ Conference of the Southern Baptist Convention. HarperCollins Christian Publishing Inc. acquired Thomas Nelson in 2012....
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