There, He Said “God”

CNN has a curious story on their website. It’s a kind of “Dog bites man” story of Barack Obama’s official swearing in earlier today. It’s all about how President Obama said “so help me God” at the end of the oath of office.

Not, I guess, “so help me Allah” or “so help me Mohammed.”

And he used a Christian Bible.

So he must be a Christian after all.

Isn’t that just the biggest bunch of malarkey? Did the CNN author, Bill Mears, just not have anything else to write about today? Of course the President is a Christian. What was all the brouhaha about Reverend Jeremiah Wright about?

But there is one thing that I don’t agree with. It is said that George Washington tacked on that statement at the end of his oath of office, and Lincoln did, too. The words are not included on the official version of the oath written in the Constitution, but when Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath, Roberts prompted the President with the words “so help you God.” It sounds a little silly. And it sounds a little like institutionalization of the Judeo-Christian version of the Creator.

I think it is more appropriate that any president taking the oath of office should not be prompted for those last 4 words. They should be entirely voluntary. That makes it heart-felt.

And it allows for the possibility of a future Buddhist or Hindu to take the oath.