Sometimes reading the Bible isn’t as wholesome as it sounds

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 26, 2026.

In the latest example of a failed Republican candidate for Congress turned worship warrior, Bunni Pounds is heeding the Trump administration’s call to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary by pretending we’re a theocracy.

After graduating from Dallas Baptist University with a degree in political science, Pounds eventually started Bunni Pounds and Associates, a Republican fundraising firm. But she lost in the 2018 Republican primaries in a bid to represent Texas’ 5th Congressional District. So now she’s fantasizing about living out the story of ancient Israel in modern-day United States.

Ezra reading the Law, fresco from Dura-Europos synagogue, 303 B.C. – 256 A.D., with a fragment of the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls as background image. (Public domain via Wikipedia)

Drawing inspiration from the Hebrew prophet Ezra reading the Scriptures publicly in the book of Nehemiah, Pounds has organized an event called “America Reads the Bible.” It’s a weeklong reading of the entire Bible — King James Version — scheduled for April 19 to 25.

“For generations, the biblical story of Nehemiah has echoed as a call to rebuild, not just walls, but hearts,” Pounds proclaims in a promo video. “A scribe named Ezra, burdened by God, reawakened the people to their identity and calling through a national reading of God’s law. Soon after, Nehemiah rallied the nation to fully rebuild their defenses in just 52 days.”

So what does that have to do with 21st century United States politics? She proposes this answer: “Today, America faces its own moment of decision — a culture adrift, leadership gaps across every sphere, families fractured, faith forgotten.”

That’s kind of odd to hear, given how Christian nationalists claimed these issues were supposedly solved after the 2024 election and massive revival they believe has begun in response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Apparently, the revival got reset for the midterms.

Pounds extols her vision: “In 2026, as America marks 250 years old, a new nation of leaders will rise, Ezras for our time, calling the nation back to its foundation.”

Centering the conquest narratives

While adults playing ancient Israelite cosplay may appear extreme, the seeds get planted in white evangelical children’s church. The Sunday school lessons often depict the exciting stories of the Israelites escaping Egypt and then conquering their Canaanite neighbors in order to take the land for themselves.

“In their limited understanding of Christianity, the only true people of God today are conservative Republicans.”

Song lyrics explore such stories as the 12 spies entering Canaan, with the 10 spies who didn’t want to move forward with genocide being called bad and the two spies who wanted to commit genocide being labeled good. God requires total obedience, which means total genocide of women, children and babies, the “pro-life” teachers claim. Then many children’s songs depict battles, at the end of which the enemy often meets a violent death.

They don’t offer any reflection on how ancient empire dynamics shaped the story of Israel, of how ancient people wrote stories or how we’re a modern Democracy rather than an ancient theocracy. Instead, these evangelicals present the stories as inerrant Scripture that cannot be questioned, revealing a God who is the same today as Yahweh was depicted back then, and then calling today’s white evangelical children to enlist as happy, obedient soldiers who grow up to fight the Democrats.

In their limited understanding of Christianity, the only true people of God today are conservative Republicans, most of whom are white. Then when the entire Bible and the Great Commission get interpreted through the Canaanite conquest paradigm, the cause of Christian nationalism becomes their rallying cry.

The Sermon on the Mount? That’s for another dispensation, for the afterlife, or simply meant to be interpreted spiritually.

The Fruit of the Spirit? That’s simply how you’re supposed to relate to other Christians who agree with you on virtually everything.

What matters is that conservative Christian Republicans are the army of God, nobody can stand in their way, the land is theirs to take and plunder, and the rest of us must bend the knee or be completely eradicated.

A fragment of a painted limestone relief dating to about 1400 B.C. from Thebes in Egypt depicts defeated Canaanites. (Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

The lineup of Ezras

With 500 Bible readers enlisted to participate in the upcoming Scripture-a-thon, there are far too many to name. But some of them are paired with specific Scriptures in ways that are beyond poetic.

Continue reading at Baptist News Global.