Obama and Lincoln: Linked by a Bible

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Linked by a Bible
Barack Obama's use of Abraham Lincoln's Bible serves to connect the presidents by religion.
By Ronald C. White Jr.
January 17, 2009

Barack Obama's decision to select the same Bible for his inauguration that Abraham Lincoln used at his first inauguration in 1861 forges an intriguing connection between these two presidents. It's the latest in a series of purposeful associations, from Obama announcing his run for the White House from the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., (where Lincoln gave his "House Divided" speech), to a photo-op last week at the Lincoln Memorial.

As with all symbols, the use of the Lincoln Bible -- gilt-edged, covered in burgundy-colored velvet -- does much more than physically link two administrations. Lincoln made surprising and controversial use of the Bible and faith as president. Will Obama, whose religious beliefs have already played a role in American politics, do the same?

Lincoln's reliance on the Bible is surprising in a way not generally known to most Americans today. Lincoln was the only president who never joined a church. Yet Lincoln arguably wrote and spoke more profoundly on faith and religion in American politics than any other president in our history....

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Lincoln's employment of the Bible was controversial in his day for many of the same reasons the employment of the Bible in public speech can be contentious in ours. After the second inaugural, Lincoln was accused of crossing the line between church and state. The New York World indicted Lincoln for "abandoning all pretense of statesmanship" by taking "refuge in piety."...

Both Lincoln and Obama are also on record as being sensitive to the misuse of the Bible....

Obama, though critical of what he sees as misuses of the Bible by conservatives, also has questioned the failure of liberals to join the conversation about values that, he contends, cannot be separated from religious values. "To say that men and women should not inject their 'personal morality' into public-policy debates is a practical absurdity," he wrote in "The Audacity of Hope." "Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition."....

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Both men in various ways reveal a strong internal religious compass. Both, it would seem, "read the same Bible."...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-white17-2009jan17,0,4807263.story

[PassingFair]

1. This bible?

"The Bible is not my Book and Christianity is not my religion.
I could never give assent to the long complicated statements
of Christian dogma."

--Abraham Lincoln

[laconicsax]

2. Yep, that one.