Posted on 12/20/2004 7:34:48 AM PST by Ellesu
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
About 2 million friends and supporters of President Bush found something in their mailboxes this month that no other president has offered: A holiday card with a Bible verse.
This card has a line from Psalms, 95:2: "Let us come before him with Thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."
Presidents have been sending season's greetings since Calvin Coolidge wrote "Merry Christmas" on White House stationery in 1927. And many presidents issued proclamations about faith-related events varying from the National Day of Prayer to Ramadan.
But this administration is the first to include Scripture in the annual card, said Mary Evans Seeley, author of "Season's Greetings From the White House: The Collection of Presidential Christmas Cards, Messages and Gifts." Seeley and her husband have a complete collection of the presidential holiday cards.
First lady Laura Bush supervises the card selection. She picked cards with Bible verses when her husband was governor and has continued to do so in the White House.
This year's illustration is a painting of the Red Room of the White House by Cindi Holt, a Fort Worth, Texas, artist .
The Republican National Committee paid for production and distribution.
Only one previous president included an explicitly religious element in a card. In 1963, President Kennedy's card featured a photo of a creche set up in the East Room of the White House. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, had signed 30 cards before their final trip to Dallas.
None was ever mailed.
I got one this year and just checked the postmark.Sure enough Crawford,Texas postmark.
Sure enough Crawford,Texas postmark.
Unless I've forgotten all my Sunday School teaching, Psalms is from the pre-Christian part of the Bible.
Therefore it shouldn't offend any of the 'people of the Book'--Christians, Jews or Muslims.
Bhuddists and Taoists are ecumenical, so I guess that leaves the atheists and ACLU to foam at the mouth.
I hope Santa brings them a lump of coal for Christmas.
The ACLU is probably enraged at a public official using his position to authorize a bible verse on govt greeting cards. I wouldn't be surprised if they do sue.
We got ours. It is beautiful, and it was great to see scripture quoted. BTW -- the envelope had a regular stamp, and it was postmarked, "Crawford, TX". No franking privileges here.
Look, malakhi, we don't exist! And neither do our books that some have butchered with their translations!
I thought last year's or the year before had part of one of the Psalms as well. Nice card, I still have mine. But that Ebay thing sounds good.
I guess what i should have said is that Psalms was written before the birth of Jesus and the Scripture on the card therefore had no specific references to Jesus.
I'm interpreting the "Him" as God (Jehovah)as the Psalmist would have.
By the way, I'm not a practicing religionist. More of a deist than anything. Still, I appreciate the value of faith and wish you a Merry Christmas.
Why does the Dallas Morning News consider this news? President Bush has quoted a passage from the Old Testament on every official Christmas card he has sent since reaching the White House. Here's an FR post from 2001 that says that the 2001 White House Christmas card quoted the Book of Psalms: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/587487/posts
BTW, I received a White House Christmas card this year, and the picture on the website doesn't begin to do it justice.
We have received a card from the President EVERY Christmas of his Presidency....EVERY YEAR the card has contained a Bible verse.
2001: "Thy face, Lord, do I seek: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" (Psalm 27:8, 13)
2002: "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations." (Psalm 100:5)* side note about 2002: we also got a card from Governor Jeb Bush and THAT card had the same scripture! :)
2003: "You have granted me life and loving kindness; and your care has preserved my spirit." (Job 10:12)
The 2004 card is described above.
This is not a "new" trend for President Bush. He has been consistent all four years of his presidency.
oops. I just posted what you said. :)
"oops. I just posted what you said. :)"
That would not surprise me.
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