National Bible Day is celebrated each year on the last Monday in January (this year, January 29) to honor the importance of the Bible to the billions of people around the world who follow its teachings and dedicate themselves to read it, reflect on it and grow. closer to its enduring messages.
National Bible Sunday was also celebrated this year on January 28, 2024.
Country star Lee Greenwood, the iconic singer and songwriter, shared with Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview the importance of his faith to him just before National Bible Day, and how he came up with the idea for his singular “God.” Bless the US Bible
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He and his wife Kimberly, Greenwood said, keep individual hand-me-down Bibles on their nightstands, a tradition the couple continued while growing their own family.
“She has one of her family's Bibles and I have one of mine that's on our nightstands,” he said.
Nashville-based singer-songwriter Lee Greenwood spoke with Fox News Digital ahead of National Bible Day about his Bible “God Bless the USA.” The singer will visit New York City on January 29, 2024 to celebrate National Bible Day and the 40th anniversary of his iconic song, which was released in 1984. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Then, we have a family Bible that shows the family tree that sits on our coffee table in the middle of our room in the living room,” he said.
Visitors often commented on the special tradition, he said, which made him think about the beginning of the biblical tradition.
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“The people of the Mayflower, when they first landed at Plymouth Rock, they were all Christians and they all had Bibles,” he said.
He added that the Faith statue at the National Forefathers Memorial in Plymouth, Massachusetts, “points toward God rather than [holding] “a torch,” as is the Statue of Liberty, and that the “foot of Faith is upon the Bible.”
Greenwood said he thought the Bible, in addition to containing the Word of God, should include important faith-based artifacts that contributed to American history. (2911 Media)
He also holds a Bible in his left hand while his right hand points towards the sky.
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Completed in 1889, the “stunning 81-foot granite monument…commemorates a Victorian-era interpretation of the activities that motivated the Pilgrims to leave England and start their own colony,” the monument's website notes.
“The people of the Mayflower, when they first landed at Plymouth Rock, they were all Christians and they all had Bibles.”
Greenwood said that as a person of deep faith and who values and appreciates the United States Constitution, he was inspired to create a King James version of the Bible that included in its pages the “doctrines that drove our country.”
The “God Bless the USA” Holy Bible includes additions such as a copy of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Greenwood said the idea of a Bible containing in its binding the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance arose from a tradition he has long carried out in his home. (2911 Media)
The existence of his Bible, Greenwood said, is timely given the current international pressure to weigh “economics against faith.”
“It's an interesting parallel between people who have faith and believe in free enterprise,” he said.
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He added: “Here in the West, in the United States, we have this double belief. That's why I hope that this new approach will be generally accepted by people who want to know how the United States feels… about the world economy and the world of faith. “
Lee Greenwood's “God Bless the USA” special edition Holy Bible, which contains the words from America's founding documents, has been a passion project for him, he told Fox News Digital. (2911 Media/Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Greenwood will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his patriotic mega-hit “God Bless the USA” this year.
He said he loves that the song has continued to bring hope and love to the American people.
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“It's really interesting to look at the pages of my life and how they became 'God Bless the USA.' [forward],” he said.
The song and its lyrics “remain relevant to the American people,” he said.
Lee Greenwood is shown performing at the Rosemont Horizon, in Rosemont, Illinois, on November 30, 1984. That was the year “God Bless the USA” came out. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
Greenwood has previously said that his “heritage is American. Sure, I'm German, English, Irish, Scottish, but I was born in the United States of America and this is my heritage, America.”
As the California native also wrote in a recent op-ed for Fox News Digital, “There is no doubt that Americans have many mountains in front of them: mountains of debt, mountains of doubt, and mountains of insecurity, as global chaos “affects security both abroad and abroad.” and here at home.”
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However, “it is especially important in these times of crisis that we do not lose faith. That is when faith becomes increasingly important.”
Greenwood has won numerous industry awards over the years, including the Academy of Country Music's Male Vocalist of the Year in 1983, two Country Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year awards in 1983 and 1984, and a Grammy for Best Male Vocal Performance. in 1985 by “IOU”
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The CMA also named “God Bless The USA” Song of the Year in 1985, as Greenwood's website notes. The song has been in the top five on the country singles charts three times (1991, 2001 and 2003), “giving it the distinction of being the only song in any musical genre to accomplish that feat,” their site states.
It also held the number one spot on the pop charts after September 11, 2001 and has been voted the most recognizable patriotic song in America.
Anyone interested in Greenwood's “God Bless the USA” Bible can visit godblesstheusabible.com for more information.
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