Amidst all of the American flags and presidential seals, there was something missing when President Barack Obama gave an economic speech at Georgetown University this week -- Jesus.
The White House asked Georgetown to cover a monogram symbolizing Jesus' name in Gaston Hall, which Obama used for his speech, according to CNSNews.com.
The gold "IHS" monogram inscribed on a pediment in the hall was covered over by a piece of black-painted plywood, and remained covered over the next day, CNSNews.com reported.
The Washington Times' Belief Blog asked the university about the presidential request:
Julie Bataille from the university's press office e-mailed me that the White House had asked that all university signage and symbols behind the stage in Gaston Hall be covered.
"The White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they've done for other policy speeches," she wrote. "Frankly, the pipe and drape wasn't high enough by itself to fully cover the IHS and cross above the GU seal and it seemed most respectful to have them covered so as not to be seen out of context."
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Friday, April 17, 2009
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Sounds good to me. Having a clear separation of church and state has a secondary, unintended, benefit.... simplifying the situation. Obama's speech has nothing to do with religion and thus to have "jesus" anywhere in the backdrop would be inappropriate. should it not have been covered then other religions would rally for fair treatment and want their god or symbol on display as well given that the speech is a public event by a government leader.
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