Texto para a questão.

SWEARING ON THE BIBLE

By
Angela Stockton 

1 On November 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Vice President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) did not put his hand on the Bible when he took his oath of office [juramento de posse] as the new President. The book that he and the Secret Service agents thought was the Bible was in fact a missal, i.e., a book of prayers which Catholics used at Masses [Missas].

2 That didn’t make LBJ’s oath invalid. Because the Constitution specifically states that no religious test shall be required for public office [cargo público] in the United States, no public official needs to say “So help me, God,” or put his or her left hand on any book. LBJ’s oath would have been equally valid if he had put his left hand on a telephone book or a cookbook.

3 And Barack Obama did put his hand on a Bible for both his public inaugurations and undoubtedly at his third one. His third? Yes, if you recall, Chief Justice [Presidente da Suprema Corte dos EUA] John Roberts messed up the words of the oath when he swore in Obama at his first inauguration. (You had one job, John…) So that no one could say Obama was not validly inaugurated, Roberts went to the White House on the evening of January 20, 2009 and administered the oath again, in private. One hopes that he was reading it off the Constitution that time.

^{Adapted from Quora Digest, July 29, 2023.}

With respect to Barack Obama’s first inauguration, the information in the article most likely supports which of the following?

• a

  It was the first time an African American was allowed to put his hand on a Bible for any kind of oath of office. 

• b

  Chief Justice John Roberts was so nervous that he forgot the words that he needed to say, and so the ceremony was postponed and continued later. 

• c

  To help prevent any accusations of fraud or bad faith, the ceremony was repeated. 

• d

  By placing his left hand on the Bible, Barack Obama was making a political gesture, not a religious one. 

• e

  If Barack Obama were White, his first inauguration would have had no element of controversy.