Outrage over Obama Omitting 'Under God' from Gettysburg Address

Many Americans are offended that on Tuesday, President Obama recited a version of the Gettysburg Address that omitted the phrase “under God” for a celebrity project created by progressive documentarian Ken Burns. 

Some Americans like Bryan Fischer, a conservative Christian leader, say “Obama’s omission of ‘under God’ is more evidence of his anti-Christian bigotry. He honors Islam but disrespects Christianity.”

When Lincoln gave the speech overlooking the battlefield and the cemetery being dedicated to the fallen soldiers at Gettysburg, he promised that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” The version of the speech that contains these words is inscribed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was this same version recited in Gettysburg, PA on Tuesday that impelled thousands to travel from across the nation and the world to hear.

Obama, already under fire for shunning the 150^th Anniversary celebration of the occasion at Gettysburg (the trip is about a 20 minute helicopter flight from the White House), was defended by Jay Carney, Obama’s White House Press Secretary. Carney maneuvered by claiming, “He read the version of the address that Ken Burns provided.” Carney added that Burns is a “noted Civil War scholar.”

Ken Burns is also a well known left leaning proselytizer, and his documentaries are populated by the most liberal celebrities that Hollywood has to offer. Often called upon for his projects are Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow, and other openly leftist celebrities. 

Burns has made overt and veiled references to Tea Party supporters and conservatives as racists. Talking about race and modern politics during an appearance on Meet the Press, he asked rhetorically, “Do you think we’d have a secession movement in Texas and in other places… if this president wasn’t African American?” Burns also insists that racism was at the heart of the failure to nominate Susan Rice as Secretary of State. Burns did not consider it material that she blatantly lied to the American people during the aftermath of the Benghazi terrorist attacks.