Many Americans give the Bible lip-service but never crack it open. In the movie “American Sniper” the hero, Chris Kyle, goes to church as a kid and keeps a Bible in the pocket next to his heart during combat. Another soldier challenges him – do you ever actually read it? Chris’s fallen face shows that he doesn’t.
Kyle’s autobiography gives a more nuanced answer. He writes, “I’m not the kind of person who makes a big show out of religion. I believe, but I don’t necessarily get down on my knees or sing real loud in church. But I find some comfort in faith, and I found it in those days after my friends had been shot up. Ever since I had gone through [SEAL] training, I’d carried a Bible with me. I hadn’t read it all that much, but it had always been with me. Now I opened it and read some of the passages. I skipped around, read a bit, skipped around some more. With all hell breaking loose around me, it felt better to know I was part of something bigger.”
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Adapted from “Here’s the faith in the ‘American Sniper’ you won’t see in the film,” Sarah Pulliam Bailey, January 14, 2015; < https://www.upotia.com/Personal/tabid/4621/ctl/NewsDetail/mid/9333/id/1220/Def >.