FFRF asks Trump to eject religion and prayer from public oath-taking
January 3, 2017
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking Donald Trump to "faithfully execute" the secular Constitution by keeping faith and prayer out of the Inaugural.
Religion should not be part of "a ceremony about pleading fealty to a secular Constitution," says the state/church watchdog. The framers of the U.S. Constitution thought the presidential oath so important they included the exact wording:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." (Article 2, Section 1, U.S. Constitution)
Notably, there's no reference to "So help me God" or placement of a presidential hand on a bible. In their letter to Trump, FFRF Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor note that it took nearly a century before "religious verbiage" was added to the presidential oath-taking. Presidents all the way from George Washington to Andrew Jackson — including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe — did not tamper with the wording of the Constitution while being sworn in.
The couple suggest that Trump place his hand not on a bible, but on the "godless" U.S. Constitution, which "unites us all under that hallowed mantle, 'We the People.'"
https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/28369-ffrf-asks-trump-to-eject-religion-and-prayer-from-public-oath-taking
https://ffrf.org/images/TrumpJanuary32017.pdf
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