Welcome to the 21st century. An iPad Bible App was used this past week to swear-in New Jersey’s newest set of Fire Captains and Battalion Chiefs. At the time of the swearing-in, a bible was not readily available, so an iPad was substituted for the firefighter ceremony.
The swearing-in ceremony was caught on video by a local NBC affiliate. During the event, eight officers are shown placing their hands on the iPad. The device was shown to include the Bible app, which made it an allowable copy of the Bible for ceremonial purposes.
The ceremony was attended by friends, family members, and supporters of the Atlantic City Fire Department, and the event took place in the City Council chambers.
As e-books continue to become more prevalent, there will likely be more cases in which “stand-ins” for original copies of Bibles and other books occur.
It should be noted that a Bible is not needed for swearing-in ceremonies as they hold no valid legal consideration. However, Bibles are none-the-less used as part of traditional ceremonies.
Even some church leaders have begun to use iPad’s an accessible ways to pull up notes during sermons and to collect their thoughts leading up to their lectures.
Do you think using an iPad bible app for a New Jersey firefighters swearing-in ceremony breaks too much from tradition?
