Narrow-Minded Newsweek

At the orthodontist’s office yesterday, I read a few of their news magazines while in the waiting room. I never read magazines like Time or Newsweek anymore, so seeing what they print was quite the eye-opener (and the brain-closer). Good heavens, are journalists THAT dunced?! It was the most ridiculous drivel I’ve ever read. I snapped a photo of one of the worst articles I’ve ever read.

No, no, not Traffic Jam? Blame Bush. LOL that’s pretty stupid, too. But I mean about God.

It’s that article, God and the Oath of Office, by Lisa Miller. She says that because there were no microphones or tape recorders back in the days of George Washington, we can’t REALLY be sure that he said “So help me, God,” after giving his presidential oath of office. And therefore gives heed to some atheist knucklehead wanting to prevent Barack Obama from saying it. Because mentioning God is unconstitutional and is a modern addition by rabid right-wing wackos, you see. The article is intended to cast doubt on the role of religion and the acknowledgement of God in our nation and government. And it banks on the reader’s uneducation (and miseducation) of the issue.

If that girl was my student, she’d have flunked my history class. And been forced to write, “I will read the Founding Fathers’ writings” 100 times on my blackboard!

In the article she has the gall to say,

The presidential oath of office, laid down in the Constitution, does not [include the phrase "so help me, God"]. The incoming president closes his oath by swearing to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s it.

Sorry, Ms. Miller. That is NOT it. Don’t you know what an oath even IS?! It’s not a “promise.” It’s a solemn OATH in the presence of witnesses and in the presence of GOD. There is eternal punishment behind breaking an oath. It wasn’t like Washington was saying, “Well, I promise.” No way! The mere fact that this IS an OATH IS the acknowledgement of God in the presence of this vow.

Signer of the Declaration John Witherspoon (he was a minister, too, by the way):

An oath is an appeal to God, the Searcher of Hearts, for the truth of what we say and always expresses or supposes an imprecation [a calling down] of His judgment upon us if we prevaricate [lie]. An oath, therefore, implies a belief in God and His Providence and indeed is an act of worship. . . . Persons entering on public offices are also often obliged to make oath that they will faithfully execute their trust. . . . In vows, there is no party but God and the person himself who makes the vow.

Signer of the Constitution Rufus King similarly:

[B]y the oath which they [the laws] prescribe, we appeal to the Supreme Being so to deal with us hereafter as we observe the obligation of our oaths. The Pagan world were and are without the mighty influence of this principle which is proclaimed in the Christian system – their morals were destitute of its powerful sanction while their oaths neither awakened the hopes nor fears which a belief in Christianity inspires.

James Iredell, a ratifier of the Constitution and a U. S. Supreme Court justice appointed by George Washington:

According to the modern definition [1788] of an oath, it is considered a “solemn appeal to the Supreme Being for the truth of what is said by a person who believes in the existence of a Supreme Being and in a future state of rewards and punishments according to that form which would bind his conscience most.”

And Washington, in his Farewell Address of 1796, said:

[W]here is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths . . . ? (emphasis mine)

So really, whether guys said “so help me, God” is irrelevant. An oath is in the presence of God, anyway. Making the oath and saying “so help me, God” is the exact same thing.

And while the Constitution says nothing about inauguration activities, the Senate passed this law in 1789 and the House followed suit:

Resolved, That after the oath shall have been administered to the President, he – attended by the Vice-President and members of the Senate and House of Representatives – proceed to St. Paul’s Chapel to hear Divine service.

You see, Ms. Miller and Newsweek have been trying to promote the idea that our nation was founded under secular humanism by secular humanists/deists who wanted nothing to do with God and with Whom they wanted no intervention in our nation. LIE LIE LIE.

And then Miller says THIS!

The fact is, according to Donald Ritchie, a historian at the Senate Historical Office, we have no idea what most 19th-century presidents have said about God as they were sworn in because for most of American history there were no microphones and no recording devices. Legend has it that George Washington said “So help me God” at his Inauguration, but new scholarhsip shows this may be as apocryphal as.. the cherry tree.

That’s the logic behind dismissing the “so help me, God” addition? Because there were no recording devices back then, we can never really know?!

You can read Washington’s inaugural address here. Although- BEWARE! There were no tape recorders back then, so everytime Washington says “Great Being” or “Parent of the Human Race” or “Almighty Being” or “Heaven” it may not have been true!!!!

It’s no wonder Newsweek is having problems and trying to “narrow their focus.” They’ve narrowed their minds so much that it’s spreading to other areas. And why do they hate God so so much, huh?

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