A federal judge has given Obama the OK to reference the Almighty when taking the oath of office:
A group of atheists and agnostics had sued in federal court in Washington hoping to prevent Obama from adding [“so help me God”] to the 35-word inaugural oath outlined in the Constitution.
The lawsuit also sought to prohibit Obama’s chosen inaugural ministers, the Revs. Joseph Lowery and Rick Warren, from offering prayers at inauguration.
Has there been a president who didn’t speak of the Divine in his inaugural address? It began with George Washington in 1789:
…[It] would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.
