With the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump (for the second time), we have once again celebrated another milestone in our history.
It’s interesting to note that every one of our presidents has been sworn in on the Holy Bible and uttered the oath, “So help me God.” George Washington began the process and it has continued to this day---despite the claims of those trying to erase America’s rich Christian heritage.
For example, our second president, John Adams, closed his Inaugural Address in 1797 in this way: “…with humble reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for the religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians, and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service, can enable me in any degree to comply with your wishes, it shall be my strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction of the two Houses shall not be without effect.”
Such a sentiment from Adams does not fit the agenda of those clamoring for what Richard John Neuhaus called the “naked public square,” that is, the expunging of all references to God in the public arena. Washington’s successor said a decent respect for the Christian faith is “among the best recommendations for the public service.”
His son, John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, quoted Scripture (Psalm 127:1) in his Inaugural Address in 1825: “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in Vain.” Adams also referenced his need for God’s help: “with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country.”
Our ninth president, William Henry Harrison warned the nation that we need to watch out for “the false Christs whose coming was foretold by the Savior.” And he added, “I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness.”
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Our 22nd and 24th president was Grover Cleveland---the only one to win re-election in non-consecutive terms….until Donald J. Trump last year. In 1885, President Cleveland declared, “And let us not trust to human effort alone, but humbly acknowledge the power and goodness of Almighty God who presides over the destiny of nations.”
In 1925, our 30th president, John Calvin Coolidge stated that “America seeks no empires built on blood and force….The legions which she sends forth are armed, not with the sword, but with the Cross.” As in the cross of Jesus Christ.
In 1953, our 34th president, Dwight Eisenhower, actually opened his Inaugural Address in prayer, saying, “Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment…beseeching that Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens everywhere. Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong,…so that all may work for the good of our beloved country and Thy glory. Amen.”
Jimmy Carter, our 39th president, whose funeral was just held, quoted Scripture (Micah 6:8) in his 1977 Inaugural Address: "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
In 1989, George H. W. Bush said, “And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads: Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love….Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our hearts these words: ‘Use power to help people.’ For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord. Amen.”
These examples are not anomalies. Every president has mentioned God in one way or another in Inaugural Addresses, including President Trump on Monday, as he declared, "We will not forget our country. We will not forget our Constitution. And we will not forget our God."
Lastly, here’s another presidential Inaugural statement: “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.” Those were the words of 16th President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
America is indeed one nation under God, and our Inaugural ceremonies highlight that fact.
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