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A southern historian described the signature of the Bible by President Trump during his tornado-torn Alabama visit as "right next to sacrilege".
"I would never sign anyone's Bible," Wayne Flynt, professor emeritus at Auburn University, told AL.com. "It's right beside sacrilege. It's a sacred book. "
Former Joe Biden chief of staff Ron Klain also criticized the president.
"He signed Bibles with the same hand as the one used – as president – to sign hidden cash checks to an adult movie star," Klain said.
Was OK allowed by Trump to sign Bibles during a visit to Alabama? Religious leaders weigh
Politicians on Twitter have also reacted furiously after several victims of the devastating tornado in Alabama last week asked Trump to sign their Bible. And he stayed.
"Donald J. Trump signs Bibles," Peter Daou, a former Hillary Clinton advisor and John Kerry, wrote on Twitter. "The man whose vicious and inhuman border policy violates the basic teachings of Jesus signs Bibles."
Yet presidents have been signing Bibles for many years, including Barack Obama. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan also signed the Bible.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a Bible that he used for his first inauguration. In 1986, President Reagan signed a Bible he had secretly sent to Iranian officials.
"Presidents seem to be signing a lot of things at random," said Peter Manseau, conservator of religion at the Smithsonian, Washington Post.
Trump traveled to Alabama on Friday to observe the damage and pay homage to the victims of the tornado. The tornado has dug a path of destruction about one kilometer wide, making 23 victims, including four children and a couple in their forties, including 10 victims belonging to one extended family.
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Reverend Rusty Sowell said the president's visit was uplifting to the Providence Baptist Church of Smiths Station, Alabama. It will help draw attention to a community that will need a lot of time to recover.
Before leaving the church, Trump photographed with a fifth-grade volunteer and signed the child's Bible, said Ada Ingram, a local volunteer. The president has also signed his sister's Bible, Ingram said. On the photos of the visit, Trump is shown signing the cover of a Bible.
And he was strongly criticized for that.
"People do not understand the purpose of Trump signing the Bible," said one person. "That people have no way of preparing food after a disaster. When Trump signs a Bible, his flame breaks out and people can cook on it. "
But not everyone has criticized Trump for this.
Bill Leonard, the founding dean and emeritus professor of divinity at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, NC, said that it was important to remember that the Bibles signature was an old tradition, especially in the southern churches.
THE DAMAGE OF ALABAMA IN TORNADO APPEARS «SOMEONE HAS TAKEN A GIANT KNIFE AND JUST STRIPED FROM THE GROUND», DIT SHERIFF
"It would have been worse if he had said no, because it would have seemed mean, and it's at least a way for him to express his concern with his visit," he said. "In this context, where the tragedy took place and where he comes for this brief visit, we need a little bit of grace about it for these people."
Trump would at least have had to sign inside in a less ostentatious manner, said Reverend Kevin Cassiday-Maloney.
"It was like pride," said Cassiday-Maloney, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Christ in Fargo, North Dakota. "It almost sounded like a profanation of the sacred book to put one's signature on the front, literally."
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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