So constitutional scholar Barbara Walters has opined that the country should really move beyond the outmoded practice of swearing an oath on a Bible ~ Barbara Walters Decries Presidents Swearing Oath on Bible ~

As a host of the daytime talk show “The View,” Barbara Walters questioned why politicians, including the presidents, swear on a Bible while taking office when there is separation of church and state[…]
 
“I think it’s really unfortunate when you have to bring religion into politics. I think religion is a very personal thing, a very personal thing.”

 
Well Babs, you may have noticed (during your extra-long career as a journalist)that when a president takes an oath of office it’s always a very public thing. (Not to mention that personal faith – or lack thereof – is what informs one’s public actions. Which is another whole conversation.) Further, the country that just elected this individual is owed some sort of assurance that he or she is actually serious about fulfilling their Constitutional responsibilities. A Bible has traditionally – and universally – been considered uniquely appropriate for this purpose.
 
Since Walters seems rather fuzzy on recent inaugurals, I guess we really can’t expect her to be knowledgeable about events that occurred several decades before she was born – like in the 18th century.
 
In point of fact, a couple centuries’ worth of chief executives have sworn their oaths to the Constitution on a Bible. Now wouldn’t you think that the guys who wrote the founding documents would have nixed that book from the very first inauguration if they had meant to erect an iron-clad wall of separation?
 
If the founders had agreed with today’s progressives – and misguided pundits like Ms. Walters – they certainly never would have gotten on their knees, during public sessions of Congress, to appeal to the Almighty ~
 

 
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Related:
Let’s try separation-of-historical-fact-from-fiction for a change