Irational fear of hell still naggs me from time to time

[Angrboda]

Robert Aitken made a poor business decision. He printed a bunch of Bible and was unable to sell them – and he wanted the government to bail him out.

Tomorrow several conservative members of the U.S. House of Representatives plan to hold a public reading of the Aitken Bible on the East Front Lawn of the Capitol. Among the participants will be U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), who once famously quizzed AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn about hell during a congressional hearing.

So what is the Aitken Bible, and what are people reading from it? As it turns out, this Bible has been the subject of much bad history from the Religious Right. It's important to set the record straight.

According to various Religious Right groups and several right-wing pseudo-historians (like Glenn Beck), the Aitken Bible was printed by Congress during the Revolution and inspired American troops to fight the British. It is proof, they assert, that America was founded to be a “Christian nation.”

Warren Throckmorton and Chris Rodda have done in-depth work debunking this myth. Their research is penetrating, and I recommend it to you. Here’s the short version:

Robert Aitken was a printer who decided in 1781 to produce a version of the Bible and offer it for sale. During the years when the United States was a colony of Great Britain, colonial printers weren’t permitted to print Bibles. Other American merchants suffered similar restrictions on what they could produce and sell. Remember, the British wanted a ready-made market for their imported goods and didn’t tolerate much competition from the colonists.

Aitken printed the Bible at his own expense as the war was winding down. He then began bombarding Congress with petitions and letters asking that he be made the official printer of Bibles in America.

It’s unclear why Aitken thought the newly liberated United States would have an official printer of Bibles. He may have assumed that the new country would operate along the lines of the European powers, many of which had established churches and did maintain offices that examined Bibles for doctrinal purity.

Congress had no interest in taking on that role. In September of 1782, members did pass a resolution lauding Aitken’s Bible, but they authorized no taxpayer funds for its printing. Aitken was on his own there.


Scripture Stories: Religious Right Claims About The ‘Aitken Bible’ Don’t Hold Up