Americans shouldn't read anything into President Obama's decision to start including the words "by their Creator" when he quotes from the Declaration of Independence.
That's the word today from Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, who was asked about the change by Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House.
"Was it press reports of the president's repeatedly dropping any mention of the Creator in referring to the Declaration of Independence that led him to commendably restore it in four speeches this weekend?" Kinsolving asked.
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According to published reports, including by CNSNews.com, Obama included the reference to the "Creator," as the Declaration of Independence was written, four times in speeches over the past few days.
"No, look, I think the president has at certain times quoted from and at other times paraphrased the Declaration," said Gibbs. "I wouldn't read anything into it, much as I didn't read anything into it when on a couple of the speeches in this trip, somehow the Slurpee got dropped."
WND has reported many times on the various incidents in which references to God, such as "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "by their Creator" in the Declaration, have been omitted.
Most recently, Obama repeatedly has left that reference out of quotations of the Declaration.
Where the Declaration states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," President Obama has quoted only that all men "are endowed" with certain rights.
Kinsolving previously asked Gibbs a question about the issue while Obama still was omitting the reference.
It was a week earlier when Kinsolving said, "Twice in recent weeks, the president has quoted from the Declaration of Independence and has omitted the Declaration's reference to rights 'endowed by their Creator.' Why did he omit this part of the Declaration?"
"I haven't seen the comments, Lester, but I can assure you the president believes in the Declaration of Independence," Gibbs said.
WND reported on the first incident, Sept. 15, when Obama told a meeting of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that the document states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
The video, where the reference appears shortly past the 22-minute mark:
CNSNews.com reported Sept. 22 when Obama, speaking to a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, did it again.
"If we stay true to our values," the president said, "if we believe that all people are created equal and everybody is endowed with certain inalienable rights and we're going to make those words live, and we're going to give everybody opportunity, everybody a ladder into the middle class, every child able to go as far as their dreams will take them – if we stay true to that, then we're going to be able to maintain the energy and the focus, the fight, the gumption to get stuff done."
Other speeches, with the reference missing, followed.
Other references to America's Christian heritage have been excised at the home of the Liberty Bell, the Supreme Court and even the Washington Monument.
Chaplain Todd DuBord, who works with martial-arts expert, actor and philanthropist Chuck Norris' multiple organizations, has documented the ongoing trend at his National Treasures website.
In a second question today, Kinsolving asked, "Today in Baltimore, 52 percent of the 16- to 19-year-old African-Americans cannot find a job, reported the Washington Examiner. Since these are United States citizens, does the president agree or disagree with Gov. O'Malley's repeated description of illegal aliens as new Americans?"
"Well, again, there's a – I neither saw the story or what Gov. O'Malley has said. I think that there are – I think Gov. O'Malley is somebody who has lent his voice, as Democrats and Republicans have lent their voice, to dealing with the immigration reform," Gibbs started.
"Illegal aliens."
"Dealing with the immigration reform problem …" Gibbs said.
"Criminals."
"As a – in a comprehensive way," finished Gibbs.