A Virginia Congressman is attempting have the Lincoln Bible, now inexplicably referred to as the Lincoln-Obama Bible merely because the current President took his oath of office using the same Bible Abraham Lincoln did, placed on permanent display at the Capitol Visitors Center.
By itself, that’s not necessarily objectionable. The Lincoln Bible has a place in history and Capitol Hill is the site where Presidents are traditionally inaugurated. The problem comes in the legislation that Forbes has proposed which, reads, in part as follows:
Whereas each one of the 43 presidents of the United States since George Washington on April 30, 1789, has commenced his term of office by placing his hand upon the Holy Bible and solemnly swearing the Constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States;
Whereas the Holy Bible is God’s Word;
Whereas each President, after taking the oath of office, has repeated President Washington’s petition prayer seeking divine help by saying, `So help me God’;
The first problems here are historical in that it is fairly well-established that the story that George Washington added the words “So help me God” to his oath in either 1789 or 1793 is apocryphal and probably not true and it’s fairly well-established that not every President has used a Bible when sworn into office:
Theodore Roosevelt didn’t use a Bible when he took the oath in 1901. Franklin Pierce chose the affirmation option rather than swearing an oath. John Quincy Adams took the oath on a law book containing the Constitution. Adams, although personally quite religious, and maybe because he was so religious, didn’t think the Bible should be used for the non-religious purpose of taking an oath to uphold the Constitution.
Even more problematic is the assertion that “the Holy Bible is God’s Word.” This is a Congressional Resolution we’re talking about and if a recognition by Congress that the Bible is a divine book, which is not something everyone in America believes and which would seem to clearly violate the word and spirit of the First Amendment, is clearly unconstitutional.
Spreading historical untruths and violating the Constitution. Hardly the way to do your job, Congressman Forbes.
H/T: Religion Clause and Kip
