IHS: Stealthy Anti-Christian Coverup or Simple Stage Presence

No, not Indiana High School, immediate hand sanitizer, or even Illinois' Handsome Savior. IHS stands for something else, and it symbolizes controversy...

First, click here and here to get a little context.

Now, I know what you're thinking because at first, I thought it too: "That stinker...yet another anti-American, socialist, fascist, nihilist, and every other -ist thing to do!"

That is until I saw this post from some guy who claims to have a lot of education in theological academia. After you see his post by clicking here, don't go away yet, because there's more.

The gist of that blog appears to be that IHS isn't really a monogram for Jesus, and that right-wing kooks are to blame for this hullabaloo over a silly and trivial non-issue. In the 7th paragraph or so, he writes: "As a person who graduated from a Catholic grammar school, a Catholic high school and a Jesuit college, with a masters from a Jesuit school of theology and a doctorate from Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union (which included the Jesuit, Franciscan and Dominican theology schools, along with Episcopal, Lutheran, Baptist and Unitarian), I do not recall hearing at any point in the last sixty years that IHS was any kind of monogram of the name of Jesus." Following this he states that what he does "recall hearing" is that IHS stands for the Latin "in hoc signo vinces" which according to him means "in his sign you shall conquer". Glad to know you heard something in all those years of school Mr. Theologian Ninja, PhD who also googles the web for his info instead of using his vast Alexandrian library wallpapered in the very Dead Sea Scrolls themselves. "Vinces" which appears to be the word for "conquer" just seems to be tacked onto the end to make his argument more palatable. Wouldn't that be the difference between IHS and IHSV? I doubt very much that the White House was simply trying to avoid linking Obama with the crusades of hundreds of years ago by covering the symbol. But I digress.

So now I'm thinking: "What the heck? It doesn't even mean Jesus? So not really a big deal, right?" Maybe. Then I researched a little further. According to sources here and here, IHS does appear to refer to a monogram for Jesus Christ. Hmm. So now what?

I began to watch Obama's sermon, I mean, speech at Georgetown U by clicking here. The first thing I noticed was that this controversial IHS and cross symbol that was covered up wouldn't have been visible throughout the vast majority of the video, and yet the excuse "they" used is exactly that, that it was just good cameramanship to cover it up, that it could possibly be interpreted controversially if it were not covered.

According to Georgetown's own Rev. Thomas Reese, "It is more for camera quality than anything else...They don't want distractions that would make the eye wander. I don't think this is motivated by theology, but by communications strategy...There is this great enthusiasm for Obama especially among Catholic young people. The conservatives don't know how to deal with this...The audience wanted to cheer and cheer this very professorial address. He played Professor Obama. He's a damn good professor but not even he could make economics a barnraiser."

You gotta love it when a Rev. says something is "damn good". What's more, you've gotta love a pretentious young president that doesn't mind covering Christian symbols and making sure your eye doesn't wander too far from his royal "Damn" Goodness. My advice: stay focused on what's behind the curtain.