First, the invocation.
…I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation, or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office…
Then, the Tabernacle Choir performs ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic‘. Glory, glory, hallelujah.
Moving along to Joe Biden’s oath of office, the oath he took, the same all government officials take save for the President, technically requires the words ‘so help me God‘.
…The Constitution explicitly forbids the requiring of any religious test as a qualification for holding office. To impose such a test by popular vote is as bad as to impose it by law. To vote either for or against a man because of his creed is to impose upon him a religious test and is a clear violation of the spirit of the Constitution.
~Theodore Roosevelt, October 12, 1915
Onwards to the singing of, ‘America The Beautiful‘. God’s grace shedding on thee.
…Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance. And I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together…
From there, we go to Barack Obama’s oath of office. With the President’s hand on not one, but two bibles, Chief Justice Roberts for the second time adds ‘so help me God‘ to the oath. He does this per Obama’s request since the oath isn’t written as such in the Constitution.
…Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State…
~Thomas Jefferson, January 1, 1801
He does this even though he was sued (the suit was dropped) after the 2009 inauguration for this addition.
…the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…
President Obama’s inaugural address ends with, ‘God bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.’
…In the enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States…
After this, we’re treated to a Clarksonian rendition of ‘My Country Tis of Thee‘. Protecting us by thy might, great God our king.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…
~First Amendment to the Constitution, ratified December 15, 1791
And finally, the benediction.
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Please, show me the war on religion. Did it take the day off for MLK Jr. day?
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The inauguration felt like a church synagogue service (I was raised Jewish. Sue me).
God was mentioned ad nauseum and was injected into all facets of the day.
As you’ll note from the date ordered quotes above, we’ve preached seemingly forever of a separation between Church and State.
However in practice we’re not so hot.
Paying lip service to the premise in prose.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting we remove Yaweh from the lyrics of the Battle Hymn et al, not anymore than I’m asking to drop Jehovah from post-sneeze etiquette.
It’d be nice, but music is music, no one really pays attention to the words anyways (see: Nickelback, pop music in general).
It is what it is at this point.
What I am suggesting though is that we actually do separate a bit. Keep the pomp. Keep the circumstance if you must. But do away with the invocation, the benediction and the Bible.
Because, taking from the ‘good book’, Matthew 6:6; ‘…when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.’
Because freedom of religion implies freedom from religion and as such, official, tax payer funded events, shouldn’t include ecclesiastical dogma.
As for the Bible, why are our presidents swearing in on it anyways?
Granted, it’s the personal choice of each President, to use a bible or not, why not swear on, oh I dunno, a volume of law? Perhaps the Constitution itself? We’re a nation of laws after all.
That’d be rife with symbolism, no?
That’d be big.
Bold.
American.
Take a page out of the book of John Quincy Adams, who swore in on…yea, a volume of law (beautiful set up there Steve. (Thanks Steve)).
As the L.A. Times puts it, ‘he wrote in a March 1825 diary entry, it was the Constitution he swore to preserve, protect and defend.’ This in spite of the fact that he was quite religious.
Touche good sir.
And while there isn’t a literal religious test in place for holding public office, not declaring your devotion to the imaginary Guy in the Sky generally serves as a fail in the tacit test.
That said, while unconstitutional and unenforceable, 8 states actually do have laws on their books banning Atheists from holding office.
…I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute — where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote — where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference — and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.
I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish — where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches, or any other ecclesiastical source — where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials — and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all…
~John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1960
So while we saunter brazenly down our pseudo-hypocritical path, cherry picking the will of the founders and thoughts of our past leaders, let us bow our heads and thank the Lord for the sanctimony of our drone strikes, our intolerance of gays, our ongoing attempts at abrogation of women’s control over their own bodies and all other deeply sound policy.
Amen.