As we approach America’s 250th birthday, the contrast between our founders’ deep reliance on Scripture and today’s fading biblical engagement is unmistakable. Current faith-related surveys report:

  • the Bible is still the best‑selling book in the world, but usage has declined sharply in the United States.
  • only 39% of Americans read the Bible at least once a week, down from 50% a decade ago.
  • 26% of Americans have never read the Bible.
  • biblical literacy has dropped, and many Americans cannot identify basic stories or teachings.
  • digital Bibles and apps have increased access, but not necessarily engagement.
  • younger generations read the Bible far less than older adults.

Without the Bible, the Declaration of Independence would never have been written. The Bible was unquestionably the most read, most owned, and most influential book in the American colonies in 1776. Much of the wording of the Declaration itself reflected biblical teachings and Christian ideas such as life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and that all men are created equal.

The Bible was instrumental in shaping both private and public life in the colonies, and the Declaration of Independence could only emerge from a people shaped by Scripture. As tensions between the Thirteen Colonies and the British government escalated, the spiritual convictions of the men, who drafted and signed the Declaration, anchored the very principles it proclaimed. The Founding Fathers were strong believers in God and 51 of the 56 signers were active members of Christian denominations.

Before the war, every Bible in America came from England, because British law restricted Bible printing to licensed printers. In 1777, as the Revolutionary War raged, and trade with England was at a standstill, the American clergy petitioned the Continental Congress, warning of a severe Bible shortage. The newly formed Continental Congress reported, “The use of the Bible is so universal and its importance so great that…the committee recommends that Congress will order the Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 Bibles.” The Congress responded by authorizing the importation of Bibles from Holland, Scotland, and other countries. Because of drastic wartime conditions, they never arrived.

Three years later, a resolution to print Bibles in America was introduced in Congress, and printer Robert Aitken received permission to print them. Aitken’s Bible was printed in 1782—during the Revolutionary War and before the Treaty of Paris formally ended the conflict. Despite the scarcity and expense of paper, ink, and labor, Aitken undertook the risk of printing the first complete English-language Bible produced in the United States of America. The two appointed chaplains of Congress reviewed Aitken’s work for accuracy, leading Congress to issue a formal resolution praising his “pious and laudable undertaking” and recommending the Bible to the American public.

Congress’s support for the Bible underscores a defining truth of the era, echoed by the first presidents in their own words:

George Washington: “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

John Adams: “I have examined all religions…and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world.”

Thomas Jefferson: “Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.”

With the convictions of our nation’s earliest leaders, it’s no wonder reverence for Scripture was woven into the very architecture of our government. Thus, the Ten Commandments, Scripture quotations, and biblical artwork are still found within the United States Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and other federal buildings.

John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, also served as Vice President of the American Bible Society for nearly three decades. In an address to the society, he wrote, “The Bible carries with it the history of the creation, the fall, and redemption of man, and discloses to him, in the infant born at Bethlehem, the legislator and savior of the world.”

But even in a society founded on Scripture, incarceration in the 18th century didn’t focus on spiritual reform, but on flogging, nose slitting, public shaming, branding by a hot iron, mutilation, tar and feathering, banishment, and execution. Current prison reform efforts also lack a spiritual focus.

Through the Jailbird Ministry, inmates receive the very Scriptures that forged a nation and guided a people risking everything for liberty. We stand in a long line of citizens across history who believed the Bible is essential for freedom—not just national freedom, but freedom of the soul. The Bible that fueled the “Spirit of 1776” is the same Bible that shatters chains and sets captives free today.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).