THE NATIONAL PULSE
A week before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was inaugurated in 2019, his staff scrambled to acquire a Bible for him to be sworn in to office with. The King James Bible, held during the inauguration by the Governor’s wife Casey DeSantis, was purchased by staff from Jeff Bezos’s Amazon.com for $21.74 and shipped to Florida’s Republican Party headquarters.
The revelation that DeSantis did not own a family Bible – at least in 2019 – casts a degree of doubt on his current presidential campaign’s framing of the Governor as a staunch Christian and culture warrior. The DeSantis campaign has focused heavily on outreach to Evangelical Christians, though DeSantis himself is ostensibly Catholic.
American Protestants, including Evangelical Christians, often have one or more Bibles in their homes. While many Catholics also have personal Bibles, it is primarily heard through readings at each Mass as part of the Lectionaries. According to Fr. Felix Just, S.J, 13.5 percent of the Old Testament, 54.9 percent of the non-Gospel New Testament, and 89.8 percent of the Gospels is covered by the Sunday and Weekday Lectionaries.
Politicians often use religious texts to take their oaths of office upon – though it is not required. Article 6, Section 3 of the Constitution requires an oath of office for Members of Congress and state legislators but adds, “…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
