Aitken Bibles tie into the lessons of the American Revolution in historical and even secular ways, said one of the men who wants to bring them to Tennessee’s elementary, middle, and high schools.
As reported, organizers of The American Bible Project want to donate these Aitken Bibles to the state’s school libraries.
American Bible Project founder Stephen Skelton told The Tennessee Star Wednesday that “the story of the Aitken Bible is one of those great forgotten stories of American history.”
“We are looking to fix that. We are looking for folks to know their forgotten American history. The tie-in to the American Revolution and founding of the country is quite profound. What happened was when the American Revolution began, America placed an embargo against trade with Great Britain. Among the many items that we stopped receiving from Great Britain were Bibles. Great Britain is where we got our Bibles from. After a few years, we were running out of Bibles in America. As strange as that sounds to our ears today,” Skelton said.
“To make that matter worse, not only did we cut off our supply of Bibles, but it was illegal in America to print the Bible. The reason being is because the King James Version of the Bible, which was the predominant English version of the Bible at the time, had a license on it that was held by King George, and he was not allowing anyone in America permission to publish the Bible.”
Three pastors, Skelton went on to say, wrote the Founders and asked for their help. He said that Robert Aitken, “a person with a foot in the door with our Founders,” asked for approval to print the first American Bible. The Founders said yes, and they also encouraged that the inhabitants of America read it.
“Our Founders were men of faith,” Skelton said.
“They knew something about the people of this country and our foundation that we seem to have forgotten today.”
Organizers have scheduled an inaugural luncheon for Saturday in Nashville. Skelton said that anyone who wants to attend should RSVP by calling (866) 494-4428. People curious about The American Bible Project may visit the organization’s website.
“We anticipate distribution of Aitken Bibles into schools the fourth week of October,” Skelton said.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
