Obama using MLK, Lincoln Bibles during oath

[DonViejo]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (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.

The inclusion of King’s Bible 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.

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.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/10/obama_using_mlk_lincoln_bibles_during_oath/

[Leopolds Ghost]

1. Seems a little ostentatious to me

What was that about "pray in a closet?" For that matter, is Obama the culmination of King's legacy?

Hard question to ask, but not so difficult to answer.

There was once an Evangelical family that took that provision literally and had a brightly lit closet with the door open where all their guests could see their fully decorated prayer room in the closet.

[sheshe2]

2. What a Beautiful tribute, to two special men,

that have made a world of difference in all of our lives! Two men that died far to young. Yet their hopes and dreams live on!

Ostentatious, not at all!

Thank you for sharing with us, DonViejo!

She

[Leopolds Ghost]

4. I certainly admire Lincoln and Dr. King

But I feel that King would have far more problems with Obama's policies than he did
with Johnson's policies, given that he had a stormy relationship with LBJ, and Obama
is far to the right of LBJ.

I think it would be fine to just use King's bible, since he used the other one last time.

No need to take the expression "swear on a stack of bibles" literally. If Bush had done that...

[BumRushDaShow]

3. K&R

And an incredibly fitting way to mark this historic swearing in. Too much blood has been spilled and too many tears shed, hopes dashed, and lives cut short.

Thank you President Obama for getting that "prize" that our "eyes" laid sight on so long ago.