Listen Live
Praise 102.5 Featured Video
CLOSE

Today the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced the Bibles that President Obama and Vice President Biden will use at their swearing-in ceremonies on Sunday, January 20, and Monday, January 21.

On Sunday, January 20, President Obama will take the oath of office using the Robinson Family Bible. On Monday, January 21, the President will take the oath of office using two Bibles: the Bible used by President Lincoln at his first Inauguration, which the President used in 2009, and a Bible used by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Read:Roland Martin Talks With Author Taylor Branch [AUDIO]

“President Obama is honored to use these Bibles at the swearing-in ceremonies,” said Steve Kerrigan, President and CEO of the PIC. “On the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, this historic moment is a reflection of the extraordinary progress we’ve made as a nation.”

Though there is no constitutional requirement for the use of a Bible during the swearing-in, Presidents have traditionally used Bibles for the ceremony, choosing a volume with personal or historical significance. In 2009, President Obama became the first President sworn in using the Lincoln Bible since its initial use in 1861.

The Robinson Family Bible was selected specifically for the occasion. The bible was a gift from the First Lady’s father, Fraser Robinson III, to his mother, LaVaughn Delores Robinson on Mother’s Day in 1958. Mrs. Robinson was the first African-American woman manager of a Moody Bible Institute’s bookstore and she used the Bible regularly.

The Lincoln Bible is part of the collections of the Library of Congress and was originally purchased by William Thomas Carroll, Clerk of the Supreme Court, for use during Lincoln’s swearing-in ceremony on March 4, 1861. The Bible itself is bound in burgundy velvet with a gold-washed white metal rim around the three outside edges of both covers, and all of its edges are heavily gilded.

President Obama & Vice President Biden To Use Historical Bibles For Swearing In Ceremonies  was originally published on elev8.com

1 2Next page »