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    Reactions as Trump refused to swear on Bible during inauguration

    straightnewsng.comBy No Comments3 Mins Read
    US President Donald Trump raising hand during swearing-in ceremony - Straightnews
    US President Donald Trump raising hand during swearing-in ceremony

    US President Donald Trump took his oath of office on Monday, Jan. 20, with his right hand raised, but without placing his left hand on the two Bibles that his wife Melania held as she stood by his side. 

    This led Americans to raise questions about it online.

    The top thing Americans searched for on Google in relation to Trump on Monday afternoon was about him not placing his hand on the Bible.

    During his first inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, Trump placed his right hand atop two Bibles held by the first lady as Roberts swore him in as the 45th president.

    Also read: Donald Trump takes oath as 47th US President, heralding ‘Golden Age’

    Trump took the oath of office on Monday, January 20, immediately after Vice President JD Vance was sworn in by Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

    As Vance took the oath of office, he placed his right hand on a Bible that was held by his wife, Usha Vance, as she also held one of their three children.

    But when it was Trump’s turn, he chose to have his hand my his side, instead of on the Bible.

    Though Trump is not the first president to take the oath of office without placing his hand on a religious book, he is the first one in over 100 years to not do so.

    At least four presidents took the oath without the Bible.

    The nation’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams, was sworn into office in 1825 while reading a law book, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. President Theodore Roosevelt also did not use a Bible when he took the oath of office in 1901 in the aftermath of the assassination of President William McKinley, according to the committee.

    In the wake of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One by placing his left hand on a Catholic missal, or prayer book, according to the LBJ Presidential Library.

    Reactions

    Despite the inauguration pomp and a bracing speech, the top thing Americans searched for on Google in relation to Trump on Monday afternoon was about him not placing his hand on the Bible, which contains the holy scriptures of Christians and Jews.

    What an incoming president swears on, whether it is a Bible, a historical document or nothing at all, is not relevant to them assuming power, said Jeremi Suri, a University of Texas, Austin history professor and presidential scholar.
    “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president has to connect this to God in any way,” he said. “The oath is to the Constitution.”
    “I don’t think it has any bearing on him taking the oath.” He added that the Constitution allows an incoming president to either swear or attest. The U.S.’ founding fathers “left it open to someone who is an atheist,” Suri said.
    Article Two of the U.S. Constitution says an incoming president “shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:- I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
    Trump had chosen the Bible the 16th President Abraham Lincoln was sworn in on and one given to Trump by his mother, his transition team said.

     

     

     

     

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