Country star Lee Greenwood reveals the genesis of the 'God Bless the USA' Bible
For National Bible Day on Jan. 29, 2024, Fox News Digital spoke to iconic singer and songwriter Lee Greenwood about his passion for the Bible — and for the United States of America.
National Bible Day is celebrated every year on the last Monday of January — this year, Jan. 29 — to honor the importance of the Bible for the billions around the globe who follow its teachings and are devoted to reading it, reflecting on it and growing closer to its enduring messages.
National Bible Sunday was also just celebrated on Jan. 28, 2024.
Country star Lee Greenwood, the iconic singer and songwriter, shared with Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview the importance to him of his faith just ahead of National Bible Day — and of how he came up with the idea for his unique "God Bless the USA" Bible.
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He and his wife Kimberly, said Greenwood, each have individual, passed-down Bibles on their bedside tables — a tradition the pair continued while growing their own family.
"She has a Bible from her family, and I have one from mine that are on our bedside tables," he said.
Singer and songwriter Lee Greenwood, based in Nashville, spoke with Fox News Digital ahead of National Bible Day about his "God Bless the USA" Bible. The singer is visiting New York City on Jan. 29, 2024, to celebrate National Bible Day. This year is also 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 got him thinking about the beginning of the Bible tradition.
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"The people from the Mayflower, when they first landed at Plymouth Rock — they were all Christians, and they all had Bibles," he said.
He added that the statue of Faith at the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is "pointing toward God instead of [holding] a torch," as the Statue of Liberty is — and that Faith's "foot is on 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 the history of the United States. (2911 Media)
She's also holding a Bible in her left hand as her right hand points toward heaven.
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Completed in 1889, the "impressive, 81-foot granite monument … memorializes a Victorian-era interpretation of the pursuits that motivated the Pilgrims to leave England and start their own colony," notes the website of the monument.
"The people from 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 one who values and appreciates the Constitution of the United States, he felt inspired to create a King James version of the Bible that included within its pages the "doctrines that got our country started."
The "God Bless the USA" Holy Bible includes such additions as a copy of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Greenwood said the idea for a Bible containing within its binding the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance came from a tradition he's long carried out in his home. (2911 Media)
The existence of his Bible, said Greenwood, is timely given the international pressure today of weighing "economy against faith."
"It’s an interesting parallelism 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 that two-fold belief. And so I’m hoping that this new approach will have an acceptance across the board for people who would like to know how the United States feels … about the world economy and the world of faith."
Lee Greenwood's special-edition "God Bless the USA" Holy Bible — containing the words of America's founding documents — has been a passion project for him, he told Fox News Digital. (2911 Media/Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Greenwood this year will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his patriotic mega-hit song "God Bless the USA."
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 turned to bring ‘God Bless the USA' [forward]," he said.
The song and its words are "still relevant for the American people," he said.
Lee Greenwood is shown performing at the Rosemont Horizon, in Rosemont, Illinois, on Nov. 30, 1984. That was the year "God Bless the USA" came out. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
Greenwood has said previously 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 Americans have many mountains in front of them: mountains of debt, mountains of doubt and mountains of insecurity, as global chaos impacts security both abroad and here at home."
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Yet "it’s especially important during these times of crisis that we must not lose our faith. That’s when faith becomes ever more important."
Greenwood has won numerous industry awards over the years, including Male Vocalist of the Year from the Academy of Country Music in 1983, two Male Vocalist of the Year awards from the Country Music Association in 1983 and 1984, and a Grammy for Top Male Vocal Performance in 1985 for "I.O.U."
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The CMA also named "God Bless The U.S.A." its Song of the Year in 1985, as Greenwood's website notes. The song has been among the top 5 on the country singles charts three times — 1991, 2001 and 2003 — "giving it the distinction of being the only song in any genre of music to achieve that feat," his site indicates.
It was also No. 1 on the pop charts after Sept. 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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