Absolutely nothing. The only theory I can come up with is that GP is a snobby atheist who associates Bibles with morons.

Using the Bible could be interpreted as ‘this is one of humanitys most important works so let’s preserve that first’ Yet the majority of people on planet earth are not Christian. I’ll go with the Gutenberg homage though

The Tanakh also has the distinction of being one of the few works of literature that has survived for 3000 years largely intact, and I think it's considerably longer than the older parts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Way more than that many people couldn't care less about Gutenberg though. Point being the bible is the most read book in the world.

Since Christianity is not the largest religion, I find that claim needs additional proof.

Really? It's a google search away https://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-10-most-read-books-i... And it's in the Guinness book of world records.

Also, Christianity is the largest religion... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations

The first reference quite explicitly says "number of copies each book sold over the last 50 years."

Sales is an approximation for readership. The second source also claims "figures may incorporate populations of secular/nominal adherents".

So, while I agree that populations that identify with Christianity may be larger, it's pretty obvious a lot of those do not observe the rituals the religions they identify with specify.

To get a better readership proxy, perhaps, one could use the share in sales of religious texts across the different demographics.

Then we need to also define what "read" means. Does it mean the book was read cover to cover or does it mean the book is read from occasionally? Religious texts are used in very different ways than other forms of literature, to the point comparison borders the questionable.

No doubt that is true. I was referring to the scientists motivation to ‘engrave’ the Bible

Or the KJ bible is considered by the English their most important literary work, and the university is English!

If researchers at KAUST had decided to etch the Quran as a sign of devotion and humility before the unknown, what would have been the problem?

None!

For the decision of who to honor is solely of the creator(s) and not of some political commissar