No Religious Cover up at Georgetown for Obama!

The White House is having to answer some questions from many bloggers, mostly conservative however, regarding a painted black piece of plywood which was intended to cover a symbol signifying the name of Jesus while speaking recently at Georgetown University. President Obama delivered the remarks on the issue that is on everyone's mind;the economy at Georgetown University on last week Tuesday.

The symbol or monogram as it is being described by many was indeed covered up behind him. The golden “IHS” ensignia inscribed in Georgetown’s Gaston Hall was covered by a piece of black-painted plywood.

Sources within The White House vehemently denied that there was any determined effort to specifically cover up religious imagery or symbols and noted that on the wall directly behind the president there are two religious paintings and there is other imagery throughout the hall. "Decisions made about the backdrop for the speech were made to have a consistent background of American flags, which is standard for many presidential events.Any suggestions to the contrary are simply false,” White House spokesman Shin Inouye told ABC News.

Georgetown officials said that the White House requested the backdrop and asked that all signs and symbols behind the stage be covered up.“In coordinating the logistical arrangements for the event, Georgetown honored the White House staff's request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols behind the Gaston Hall stage in order to accommodate a backdrop of American flags, consistent with other policy speeches,” said Julie Green Bataille, associate vice president for communications at Georgetown.

As we have looked into this matter, as many would come to understand appeals to this organization greatly, it has become more of a non-issue and has furthermore been over politicized by many of our conservative friends seeking to plaster the president up a poster child for the removal of our freedoms of religious expression.

Georgetown officials did not respond to the question of whether there were similar requests for past presidential speeches.This is the second controversy to flare up in the last month with the Obama White House and a Catholic university. The University of Notre Dame’s invitation to Obama to deliver the commencement address next month has sparked outrage among alumni and Catholics nationwide.

They take issue with Notre Dame bestowing an honorary degree on the president because they say his views on abortion and stem cell research are contrary to church teaching. The local bishop in South Bend, IN has said he will boycott the ceremony if Obama speaks. So far, officials from Notre Dame say there is no plan to rescind the invitation to the president.

We don't agree with the implied connotation given this latest episode of distractions and would hope that going forward the White House might take the driver seat on such issues like this. This fiasco will indeed become the driver of all issues discussed as the president visits Notre Dame next month.We need to be in prayer for this White House and the president during this visit so that God may be glorified. Catholic, Jew, Christian, God is in control and we need to pray that protests and boycotts don't rob God of what is due him in this time.

There are a great deal of smart people in the White House, now, we just need them to prevent one group or another from stealing the message and the agenda away from what God is doing for His people who are truly hurting out there right now!

WHPT