President Donald Trump declared that his second term has sparked a “tremendous resurgence” of religion in America.
Trump, 80, made the claim in the Oval Office on Friday while flanked by members of his Religious Liberty Commission, the advisory body filled mostly with conservative Christians. The commission delivered to him a report advocating that the long-held notion of the separation of church and state should be replaced by efforts to build bridges between them.
Also in attendance was controversial televangelist Paula White, Trump’s spiritual adviser, who is known for speaking in tongues.
“Religion has made a tremendous resurgence in our country. I haven’t seen anything like it. I hate to joke, but if this were a stock, you’d be very rich because it has gone up like a rocket ship over the last year, year and a half,” Trump claimed, a few days after faith was pushed at the opening of the president’s Great American State Fair by the likes of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
“I’m very honored to be sitting here. Maybe I had something to do with it. But they’ve made some very strong recommendations, and now we have to convince people to adhere by those regulations,” Trump added.
Since first entering the political realm a decade ago, Trump, a self-described non-denominational Christian, has often talked up the importance of faith, despite having an unconvincing response when asked in 2015 to name his favorite Bible verses.
“I don’t want to get into specifics” because it’s “very personal,” he said, even though the Bible “means a lot” to him. When pressed again, he refused: “No, I don’t want to do that.”
And when questioned whether he preferred the Old Testament or the New Testament, he said, “Probably equal.”
“I think it’s just an incredible—the whole is Bible is an incredible—I joke, very much so, they always hold up The Art of the Deal—I say my second-favorite book of all-time.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether—11 years later—Trump has come up with a favorite verse.
In the meantime, the president has no problem using the Bible as a prop for photo-ops, having done so during the social justice protests outside the White House in 2020. He has also been hawking his own pricey version of the holy text.
Earlier this year, Trump tested what Christian supporters of his can stomach by depicting himself as a Christ-like figure on social media. He has also been fighting with the pope about crime and immigration.
