Inauguration Day is a day for which all Americans should thank God. Barring some drastically unexpected event, the United States will once again peacefully transfer power from one faction to another. Compared to the way nations throughout history have changed leaders—by military coup, death, sabotage, and destruction—the American story is a gift of God’s grace despite the inevitable protests.
In a 2016 video, the late, brilliant British Rabbi Jonathan Sacks called Inauguration Day “one of the great rituals of modern politics.” The inauguration speech by the incoming president is, he said, a covenant renewal. He did not mean that America is God’s country or a new Israel but, by echoing similar renewals in the Scriptures, each Inauguration Day recapitulates the promises of America’s national religion. There’s a retelling of our past, an acknowledgment of present problems, and a recommitment to live up to our promise in the future. Though not a religious replacement for or an equivalency to Christianity or Judaism, the day draws on themes and rituals found in the Bible.
Years ago, on the inauguration of a very different president, Chuck Colson meditated on the many religious aspects of this day, with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Here’s Colson:
There’s a ceremony going on in Washington today that’s the stuff that nightmares are made of—that is if you belong to the ACLU. At noon, the Chief Justice of the United States will ask Barack Obama to place his hand on the Bible—the one used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861—and to swear allegiance to the Constitution. The oath will end with the words, “So help me God.”
The ceremony is a perfect example of why the separation of church and state is an elite fiction that bears little resemblance to how democracy really works.
Consider this: Religious activities like public prayers have been excluded from public school graduations and football games. And yet, prayer and the Bible are integral components of our most important democratic ritual: the peaceful transfer of power. Every four years our rulers engage in the very rituals that they deny to the rest of us.
What lies behind the inauguration’s blatant violation of the Supreme Court’s decisions regarding religion in public life?
Even after the Founders had established what they called a “new order for the ages,” they still desired a “proper ceremony”—one that underscored the importance of the occasion.
Ironically, the Founders imitated the very order they’d just overthrown. Law professor David Smolin wrote that George Washington used the coronation of King George III as a guide to his own inauguration. This included kissing the Bible and adding the words, “So help me God” after Washington repeated the oath of office.
Despite the efforts of both the courts and the elites to purge the public square of all religious influences, these ties to religion keep popping up in the most unlikely places. As Smolin writes, “a policy of acting neutral among religions, or between religion and non-religion … has never [been] successfully carried out.”
This history is what lies behind all the politically incorrect religiosity you’ll see during today’s inauguration. Americans are a religious people. And it’s only fitting that this quality be reflected in the ceremony that marks the orderly transfer of political power. Our prayers and oaths are an acknowledgment that, however imperfect, we are a “nation under God”—that we’re under His judgment and protection. They’re an attempt to connect the profane work of governance to a sacred, transcendent order.
Our leaders, whether they share our beliefs or not, still benefit from these quasi-religious rituals. The government of the United States seeks a kind of moral legitimacy, even as it upholds the so-called separation of church and state. Invoking God’s blessing and placing itself under His judgment, if only for a day, furthers that purpose.
Inauguration Day provides us with an opportunity to remind our neighbors that religion, especially Christianity, permeates our basic institutions. That’s why, despite the ACLU’s best efforts, religion keeps popping up in the strangest places — like in front of the Capitol on Inauguration Day.
Let us remember on this Inauguration Day that our responsibilities as citizens of this nation and our allegiances to Christ and his Kingdom do not ultimately contradict one another.
Photo Courtesy: ©Getty Images/carterdayne
Published Date: January 20, 2025
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.