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Painting of Jesus, Removed by Biden Admin, Resurrected at US Merchant Marine Academy
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has restored to prominence a painting of Jesus Christ at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, after it was demoted following a complaint about its Christian message.
“Jesus is out of the basement! I promised you I would restore faith at @UsmmaO by returning ‘Christ on the Water’ to its place of prominence, where it belongs after being taken down under Biden and my predecessor. God is good for these Mariners – true FAITHFUL American patriots!” Duffy wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
Jesus is out of the basement!I promised you I would restore faith at @UsmmaO by returning “Christ on the Water” to its place of prominence, where it belongs after being taken down under Biden and my predecessor. God is good for these Mariners – true FAITHFUL American… pic.twitter.com/99ddlMnyDr— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) September 30, 2025
The complaint against the painting had contended that it was sending “an improper message of preferred faith in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution.” The Biden administration subsequently removed the work of art to a lower rear hallway in the Mariners’ Memorial Chapel.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
The painting itself, which depicts Jesus appearing before a group of sailors in a lifeboat, had hung in the Elliot M. See Conference Room of Wiley Hall for 76 years prior to its removal. According to the academy, Hunter Wood, the artwork’s painter, meant for it to be “a tribute to all merchant seamen, especially to cadet-midshipmen (as they were then known) who had been torpedoed during World War II.”
Wood served in both the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Maritime Service during the 1940s. He was involved in military combat during the invasion of North Africa in 1942. His artwork can also be found in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the Mariners’ Museum and Park, and the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office.
Duffy’s restoration of the artwork to its place of prominence comes at a time when the Trump administration has sought to reform the federal bureaucracy and bring back names removed during previous presidencies. In January, for example, President Donald Trump reversed the decision initially made by the Obama administration to change the federal designation of Mount McKinley in Alaska.
The president also created a Religious Liberty Commission to protect the free exercise of faith in the nation and established a task force in the Justice Department to eradicate anti-Christian bias in the government.
On the armed services front, the Trump administration has brought back the name of Fort Bragg in North Carolina and redesignated the Defense Department as the Department of War, which harkens back to Wood’s time when the Allies were triumphant in Europe and the Pacific in World War II.
The Trump administration has also sought settlements with major American universities to bring them in compliance with federal law. Duffy’s recent effort touches on one such distinguished institution of higher education. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is one of five highly regarded four-year service academies in the United States. It grants attendees college degrees, as well as a commission in a reserve component of the U.S. military. Famous alumni include Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Olympic medalist Morgan Reeser; several admirals; and Robert Kiyosaki, the author of the well-known personal finance book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.”
The post Painting of Jesus, Removed by Biden Admin, Resurrected at US Merchant Marine Academy appeared first on The Daily Signal.
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