Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth read a fake Bible quote from Quentin Tarantino's 1994 movie Pulp Fiction during a prayer service at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Was it ever really a thing though [in the US]? Like aren’t presidents sworn in on a Bible or something? And it says something about God on the money? And the pledge of allegiance? (The USA is a cult, btw)
Before the Civil War, there was more separation. Things really started going out of wack in the 1950s (that’s when “God” was printed on paper money). The swearing on the bible thing is a tradition from England. At US’s founding 17% of the population were church members. In the the 1950s, 70% were. Now it’s < 50%.
John Quincy Adams chose “The Volume of Laws” in 1825. Teddy Roosevelt had nothing right after McKinley’s assassination in 1901. The only other oddball I see is Lyndon B Johnson used the closest prayer book after JFK’s assassination
That went out the window long ago
Was it ever really a thing though [in the US]? Like aren’t presidents sworn in on a Bible or something? And it says something about God on the money? And the pledge of allegiance? (The USA is a cult, btw)
That all changed during the “Red Scare” in the 1950’s. Swearing in on a bible is optional and lower offices have used e.g. a Quran in the past.
Before the Civil War, there was more separation. Things really started going out of wack in the 1950s (that’s when “God” was printed on paper money). The swearing on the bible thing is a tradition from England. At US’s founding 17% of the population were church members. In the the 1950s, 70% were. Now it’s < 50%.
Presidents can be sworn in on whatever they want. At least one has used something else, although I don’t recall who or what it was.
John Quincy Adams chose “The Volume of Laws” in 1825. Teddy Roosevelt had nothing right after McKinley’s assassination in 1901. The only other oddball I see is Lyndon B Johnson used the closest prayer book after JFK’s assassination
President can be sworn in on whatever document they want.
Heck, they may not even need a document. If I’m elected in 2028, I’m getting sworn in on the Epstein files.
That’s been out the window ever since 1956 when Eisenhower changed the US motto from “E Pluribus Unum [Out of Many, One]” to “In God We Trust”.