Staff reports
Charleston Gazette-Mail
A 244-year-old piece of American religious history was on display Thursday for a Day of the Bible ceremony at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston.
The Aitken Bible, published in Philadelphia in 1782 by printer Robert Aitken, was the first English- language Bible ever printed in the United States. It was also the first and only Bible ever recommended and approved by Congress, before the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in 1789, defining a separation of church and state as part of the First Amendment.
About 100 people filled the lower Rotunda at the Capitol as religiousleaders spoke to the crowd.
The ceremony featured several prayers and hymns, with voices of the faithful echoing around the marble walls. After the ceremony, guests lined up for photos with the encased Bible.
The Bible is owned by First American Bible Project, based in Franklin, Tennessee, and founded by Stephen Skelton.
Skelton said 10,000 Aitken Bibles were printed. The one on display in Charleston Thursday is one of only five left in the world.
“We’re here to show people an original American Bible, for them hold history in their hands and hear the history of how America got its first Bible,” said Skelton. “The ink hit the page five years before the Constitution was written.”
Replicas of the Aitken Bible were provided to all legislators and Supreme Court justices with their name printed on the cover.
Timothy Holtsclaw, of Sissonville, an associate pastor at a church attended by state Sen. T. Kevan Bartlett, R-Kanawha, helped with the sound system for the event, but was interested personally in having the special Bible at West Virginia’s seat of government.
“It speaks so much more volume than having it at a church somewhere to have it at the Capitol,” said Holtsclaw. “Whether you believe it as a book of God’s principles or not, it’s still an important book.”
Amy Delay drove two hours from her home in Clarksburg for the event.
“My husband’s a pastor,” Delay said. “We love to come down to support our Legislature and God’s word.”
Learn more about Aitken Bibles at bit.ly/AitkenBible.
SB 388 mandates Aitken Bible be made available in schools
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 388 has advanced out of committee to the full Senate for consideration. The bill mandates public schools and charter schools must make modern copies of the Aitken Bible — featuring its original translations — accessible in all fourth-, eighth- and 10th-grade social studies classrooms.
Schools can accept and use private donations to purchase the Aitken Bible, but they cannot use public funds for them.
West Virginia Watch reported that Senate Education Chair Amy Grady, R-Mason, who sponsored the legislation, said the grades were chosen for the requirement, “based on the standards that schools are supposed to be teaching.”
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