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Faith

Obama Puts Another Twist on His Upcoming Presidential Oath (This One Involves the Bible)

Jan. 10, 2013 6:53am Billy Hallowell

WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) — President Barack Obama is putting a symbolic twist on a time-honored tradition, taking the oath of office for his second term with his hand placed not on a single Bible, but two — one owned by Martin Luther King Jr. and one by Abraham Lincoln. Earlier this week, his historic selection of a woman who is not a clergy person to deliver his inaugural invocation also made headlines (this is the first time a female and a person who is not a faith leader has been selected).

The inclusion of King’s Bible in the oath process is particularly significant since the inauguration comes on Jan. 21, the federal holiday in honor of the civil rights leader, who delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech 50 years ago at the Lincoln Memorial. Obama will be facing the memorial as he takes the oath. King’s Bible, which his children say he used early in his career as a preacher, has never been part of a presidential inauguration.

Obama to Take Oath Using Abraham Lincoln & Martin Luther Kings Bibles

Barack Obama, left, joined by his wife Michelle, takes the oath of office from Chief Justice John Roberts to become the 44th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in this Jan. 20, 2009 file photo. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

The selection of the pair of Bibles is richly symbolic of the struggle for equality in America, beginning with Lincoln’s emancipation of the slaves through King’s civil rights movement and ultimately to Obama becoming the nation’s first black president. Inaugural planners say Obama plans to place his left hand on the stacked Bibles held by first lady Michelle Obama as he raises his right hand to repeat the oath administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. It hasn’t been determined which will be on top with Obama’s hand actually resting on it, but King’s is larger so it may need to be on the bottom.

Obama used the Lincoln Bible while taking the oath four years ago — the first time it had been used since the 16th president’s inauguration in 1861. Obama’s inaugural committee says that the president plans to use the first lady’s family’s Bible for a private swearing-in at the White House on Sunday, Jan. 20. Public presidential inaugurations traditionally aren’t held on Sundays, even though the Constitution states that a president’s new term begins automatically at noon on the 20th.

King’s children describe their father’s King James version as his “traveling Bible” that he took as part of a collection of books he carried with him while constantly on the road and used for inspiration and preparing sermons and speeches. His daughter Bernice King says her father marked the pages with several dates from May 1954, the same month he delivered his first sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Photo Credit: AP)

“We know our father would be deeply moved to see President Obama take the oath of office using his Bible,” King’s children said in a statement provided by the inaugural committee. “His traveling Bible inspired him as he fought for freedom, justice and equality, and we hope it can be a source of strength for the president as he begins his second term.”

Obama also plans to honor King throughout his inaugural weekend, beginning by asking Americans to volunteer in their communities on Saturday, Jan. 19, to honor the civil right leader’s legacy of service. The King family plans to participate. Inaugural planners also say there will be a float honoring King in the parade to the White House after the swearing-in ceremony.

Though there is no constitutional requirement for the use of a Bible while taking the oath, George Washington began the tradition with a Bible hastily grabbed from St. John’s Masonic Lodge No. 1 for his swearing-in on April 30, 1789, in New York. Since then, presidents have typically chosen Bibles with historical or personal significance, many using family heirlooms. Obama is not the first president to select two Bibles — Harry Truman did so in 1949, Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 and Richard Nixon in 1969.

Some presidents kiss the book after completing the oath. Sometimes the Bible is open to meaningful passages, such as President George W. Bush’s choice of Isaiah 40:31 – “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

President Barack Obama (left) and President Abraham Lincoln (right) (Photo Credit: AP)

The Lincoln Bible is part of the Library of Congress collections. The Supreme Court clerk bought the Bible, bound in burgundy velvet with a gold-washed white metal rim and heavily gilded edges, especially for Lincoln’s swearing-in.

The first lady’s Robinson family Bible was a gift from her late father, Fraser Robinson III, to his mother, LaVaughn Delores Robinson, on Mother’s Day 1958. The first lady’s grandmother was the first black female manager of a Moody Bible Institute’s bookstore, and her son’s present was her favorite, inaugural planners say.

They also say Vice President Joe Biden will use a Bible with a Celtic cross on the cover that has been in his family for 120 years. Biden has used the Bible every time he’s been sworn into federal office, back to his entry in the Senate 40 years ago.

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Related:

Obama’s Inaugural Invocation Pick Breaks With 200+ Years of American Tradition

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (340)

scootervanneuter
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:27am
Barry’s past claim that there are “many paths to Heaven” totally contradicts the book(s) he’s swearing on. Obviously a meaningless gesture by a Godless pinhead.

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libh8er
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:23am
Doesn’t matter how many Bibles he lays his hand on…. He has as much respect for the Bible as he does for the American people. And……in turn….. I have NO respect for him. He is NOT my president.

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BurntHills
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:22am
it can’t get anymore bizarre, can it, the liar being sworn in on a stack of bibles.

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Mapache
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:18am
I surprised he is not using his own Bible, the Gospel according to Barak H. Obama.

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KrishnaDas
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:18am
Oh, I just can’t wait to watch! It’ll be so wonderful! So many tingles up so many legs!

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mcsledge
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:16am
There are no quantity of Bibles that will help he who has already sold his soul……and yes, Obama has sold his soul. He knows the word and chooses to work in darkness.

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DoctorRon
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:09am
Don’t hold your breath waiting for the media to point out that both Lincoln and MLK, Jr. were REPUBLICANS.

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eyeneedtono
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:06am
It does not matter How Many Bibles he lays his hands on: In the Private Real Swearing in on the 20th or on the Public Show, If He does Not Utter The Words: SO HELP ME GOD! It does matter the bible will just be a place to rest his hand.

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LoVoltage
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:05am
Has the President ever opened a Bible and weighed it’s contents? Swearing on multiple “famous” Bibles tells me that this man is more concerned with popular symbolism over the message contained in the Bible. Doing this makes does not make him a better man\leader. He could swear on the Bible of Jesus Christ if such a thing existed, and he would still be the same man to me.

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marmond
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:01am
Swearing on something he does not believe in is meaningless. Maybe we should ask him to swear on
his golf clubs.

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truthnstuff
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:00am
He will somehow use it as an opportunity to divide attack and further drag the country to the gutter where his peeps are waiting to wreck more havoc and disobedience.

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SAVETHEUNION
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:59am
Solemn oaths mean nothing to this vile man. Just look at the smirk on his face as he is being sworn in. And while I’m at it, the SOB should be tried for perjury and breach of contract! He is making an oath, a solemn vow to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. No president may assume the office without making the oath, as he did in 2009.

So where was that promise during the raid on Benghazi, which he was listening to in real time from the Situation Room? Where was his protection for the Americans who died? He should be impeached and tried for perjury.

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CEM
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:58am
Biden began elected federal office 40 years ago. What a crock. Professional politicians make me sick. We need term limits more than ever. 8 years maximum in either or both houses of Congress combined (8 Senate, 8 House, or 4 Senate & 4 House). Do your jobs, then get out of D.C. and find a real job back home.

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- CEM
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:00am
  Oh, rats, Senate is a 6 year term. So max of 12 in Senate, 12 House, or 12 between the two.
  
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- truthnstuff
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:03am
  That is the big problem. They will never impose this on themselves and will continue to pass laws which they are exempt from. When the people regain control of the country laws need to be passed, un-reverseable laws, so this never happens again.
  
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Godspeed7
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:56am
What’s it matter how many or who’s bibles you place your hand upon to take an oath if you’re not going to keep the oath? A lyin’, cheatin’, thievin’, no good, muslim communist is still a lyin’, cheatin’, thievin’, no good, muslim communist regardless of what book you swear upon! Might as well be the koran. We are known by our fruit and the direction his fruit is taking this country is quite evident. Regardless of what happens, we win in the end . . . the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob said so!

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cassandra
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:54am
MLK had a DREAM we have a NIGHMARE

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CEM
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:48am
I’m sure he wished otherwise, but he has no family ties to the Civil Rights movement. What a shallow, empty man. If he had wanted to move this country forward, instead of stoking racial animosity, he would have said it’s time to put old dinosauers to rest, like affirmative action, the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, and so on. I can’t wait to never hear of this character again.

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JohnOttersaid
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:46am
MLK had a dream, and Obama ain’t it. His vision was of a world where race didn’t matter, not Obama’s world where he and his worshipers are a photographic negative of the klan, cloaked in the robes of the media propaganda machine, hating white people “because they deserve it.”.

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BuggiOlleo
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:42am
What’s the big mystery? All I see that I have a problem with is his wedding band with a notation to praise Allah and Moochelle. So, he is an image looking as if while his heart holds another. Not much to figure from this point forward.

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Beckaj
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:42am
The said thing is he is swearing to uphold the constitution on the bible while doing everything he can to destroy the constitution.

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haras42000
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:41am
NEWS ALERT: they are giving free rides to inauguration only one stipulation is you have to KISS HIS ASS!!!!!!!!!!

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65Mustang
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:41am
Can’t stand the lying bas***d and I don’t care how many Bibles he puts his corrupt hand on…he and Moochelle are evil.

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RaydocX
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:40am
i have no problem with using that bible…
some Republican might have considered asking to do that, considering it was the GOP not the Dems that pushed civil right through, back before journalism meant revisionist history.
i do find it hypocritical that the President uses the bible, or mentions Him in speeches, when his daily conduct and specific decisions have been anti-religion or at least anti-Christian.

To the half wits that will say cite an example… attempts to remove charitable donations as write offs, the demand all employers include birth control in insurance plans, the inclusion of muslim clerics in White House prayer media events to the exclusion of other religions, just off the top of my head.

This country was founded with judeochristian ethics, by founders to believed in a higher power. They wisely specified those religions could not be state sponsored (demanded) religions. The intent and wording were NEVER meant, and cannot truly be construed to mean, that no religious observance icon or practice be allowed included in government or erected on public or government property… vast overreaching by radical atheists have contributed to many of the problems we face today in ignoring that fact. i will stand with the first atheist who is forced to pray in school or who has to kneel at a creche and invoke His name… that hasn’t happened. Instead, a few non-believers want to preclude my right to recognize a higher power in school or on the way to court…

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Ohio Girl
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:39am
Let me get this straight. A president who has been president for the last four years needs to be inaugurated again. And for his choice President Obama is choosing two bibles one from Dr. Martin Luther King and one from Abraham Lincolin. Two very Christian oriented presidents. He will take his Oath on a Bible a religion that he doesn’t believe in so will this make his oath null in void? This president is a hypocrite. Doesn’t believe int he Christian Faith but will use it when he can.

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- Ohio Girl
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:41am
  Sorry Dr King wasn’t a president I know. LOL
  
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neillwd
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:39am
Why not use That Guy’s family Bible for the “private” ceremony? That is if he has one.

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ChiefGeorge
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:37am
Slly symbolic games will not help him nor us.

He does not bring anything to the table so he makes up for it with some sentalmentalisms here and there. He’s building his own legend….in his own mind.

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