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Juana Summers
It's Consider this where every day we go deep on one big news story today, the power of the Bible. American presidents have long used scripture as a rhetorical resource to frame moments of national crisis or purpose.
Narrator/Reader
Tonight, I ask for your prayers for
Juana Summers
all those who grieve presidents like George W. Bush, who addressed the country after the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001.
Narrator/Reader
And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23 even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
Juana Summers
fear no evil for you and President Barack Obama, who spoke at an interfaith prayer vigil after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
Narrator/Reader
Scripture tells us do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
Juana Summers
But the Trump administration in particular has used the Bible in different ways to publicly justify immigration raids and military action abroad after the invasion of Venezuela. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoted from Psalm 144 at a pentagon prayer service
Narrator/Reader
in January, Blessed be the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.
Juana Summers
Consider this what the biblical passages mean in their original context. We ask Bible experts to weigh in. From npr, I'm Juana Summers.
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Juana Summers
It's consider this from npr. President Trump isn't much of a Bible quoter, but some members of his administration are. And they've used scripture in different ways to frame controversial policies such as immigration enforcement raids and military actions as justified by the good book. NPR religion correspondent Jason derose takes a closer look at some instances in which the Trump administration has used the Bible to justify justify the president's agenda.
Jason DeRose
The Department of Homeland Security posted a video on social media January 13th that uses the singer Lord's cover of the song Everybody wants to rule the world.
Narrator/Reader
Help me to decide, Help me make the most of freedom.
Jason DeRose
DHS posted the video Just as massive immigration enforcement actions were taking place in Minnesota, the phrase blessed are the peacemakers appears on screen a passage from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. The quote is followed by night vision footage of a military style helicopter hovering above. DHS agents in camouflage shoot at doors and storm buildings. Then the phrase for they shall be called the sons of God comes on screen.
Dyron Doherty
My first thought was there is a gun called the Peacemaker. It's sort of this idea of peace through strength.
Jason DeRose
Dyron Doherty is a minister in the Evangelical Church of Christ and dean of Religion and Philosophy at Pepperdine University.
Dyron Doherty
It's very common for armies, militaries, just throughout history to invoke the name of God, to invoke the name of Jesus Christ.
Jason DeRose
The video's message is clear. Immigration enforcement is war and the Trump administration's policies are sanctioned by Jesus own words. The goal is also clear, says Yijian Lin, who teaches New Testament to aspiring ministers at Yale Divinity School.
Yijian Lin
DHS is causing surprise for a certain reason. To make a statement that whatever Homeland Security is doing is to create peace, even if it looks violent.
Narrator/Reader
They've mistaken Caesar for Christ.
Jason DeRose
That's Aubrey Hendricks, an elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church who also teaches at Columbia University, to use that song
Narrator/Reader
Everybody wants to rule the world. What they're saying is, yes, we are building an empire.
Jason DeRose
An empire they portray as blessed by a particular reading of the Bible, one favored by Donald Trump's white evangelical base. During the second Trump administration, officials have been even more outspoken about favoring Christianity. Here's Vice President J.D. vance.
Narrator/Reader
We have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be, a Christian nation.
Jason DeRose
But Americans overall are divided about whether they want religion and the Bible to help form public policy. According to a recent survey by Pew Research, 51% say the Bible should have some or a great deal of influence, while 48% say it should not. Pew also found that three quarters of Republicans say religion's growing influence in American life is a good thing, double the share of Democrats who say the same
Narrator/Reader
God, show me the way, because the devil's trying to break me down.
Jason DeRose
Another social media post from Homeland Security opens with the phrase forgotten country on screen over video of immigration enforcement actions set to the song Jesus Walks. The text above the post is a quote from the prophet Isaiah, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Narrator/Reader
I wanna talk to God, but I'm afraid cause we ain't spoken so long.
Jason DeRose
Among the Trump administration officials most vocal about his conservative evangelical faith is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during the run up to the Iran conflict, he was a frequent invoker of scripture.
Narrator/Reader
Here is a reading from the Holy Gospel According to Mark, including at the
Jason DeRose
national prayer breakfast on February 5.
Narrator/Reader
He said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.
Jason DeRose
Following the reading, Hegseth gave a brief sermon on the text, during which he
Narrator/Reader
said, the warrior is willing to lay down his life for his unit, his country, and his creator. That warrior finds eternal life.
Yijian Lin
What Hegseth is cleverly doing right, is calling to arms, right to be warriors, to pick up a sword in a type of glorious martyrdom.
Jason DeRose
Again, Yale's Yijian Lin.
Yijian Lin
But he's missing the power dynamic here, which is Jesus is not doing that for the cause of empire or for whoever is in government over him, but actually against.
Jason DeRose
But evangelicals like Dyron Doherty at Pepperdine like the fact that Hegseth speaks this
Dyron Doherty
way, where a politician probably wouldn't have talked like that, let's say, 30 years ago. Now they're just openly embracing their religiosity. They're openly embracing even their theological perspectives.
Jason DeRose
He says this approach is good for evangelicals to have someone like Hegseth promoting
Dyron Doherty
the faith to compete in this world, we have to defend our faith and we have to be evangelistic.
Jason DeRose
But Yale's Yijian Lin, who was raised in an evangelical immigrant church, is concerned that in a country whose constitution prohibits establishing a religion, some within the Trump administration are privileging the Bible.
Yijian Lin
There are many different sacred texts that could be used, and also just ethics of what do we think as a people and how do we want to operate as a government that doesn't have to subscribe to any one religion at all?
Jason DeRose
The concern for Columbia's Aubrey Hendrix is not so much that the administration is using the Bible, but how it's using the Bible.
Narrator/Reader
We're talking about ideological Christianity versus Christianity of faith. And the ideological Christianity is an ideology that refracts everything in the Bible through the prism of the interest of the one who's interpreting it.
Jason DeRose
Whereas in a Christianity of faith, says Hendrix, the Bible critiques every political position rather than blessing any one agenda.
Juana Summers
That's NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. This episode was produced by Sarah Ventri and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Peter Elena. It was edited by Daniel Burke and William Troup. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun, It's consider this from npr. I'm Juana Summers.
Yijian Lin
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Title: How the Trump administration uses the Bible to justify its actions
Podcast: Consider This from NPR
Air Date: May 28, 2026
Host: Juana Summers
This episode delves into the ways the Trump administration has wielded the Bible as a public tool—moving beyond the classic rhetorical comfort of prior presidents—to actively justify controversial policies, including immigration raids and military interventions. Through interviews with religious scholars and ministers, NPR explores what the biblical passages cited actually mean in context, and considers the political and ethical implications of invoking scripture to legitimize government actions.
This episode offers a nuanced look at the Trump administration’s use of the Bible beyond tradition—translating scripture into explicit policy justification—and unpacks the debate this stirs within faith communities and the broader American public. Key voices urge listeners to consider not just which scriptures are quoted, but how and why, raising questions about the line between faith and the political interests of those who govern.