THE CULTURE WARS ARE A ROUT:

President-elect Joe Biden plans to be sworn in with his hefty family Bible when he becomes the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday (Jan. 20).

It's one of many ways religion will be a facet of the inaugural activities surrounding the country's second Catholic president.

"it's just been a family heirloom on the Biden side of the family and every important date is in there," Biden said in a December appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." "Every time I've been sworn in for anything, the date has been on that and it's inscribed in the Bible."

The Bible is so big -- with a leather cover, metal clasps and 5 inches of thickness -- his wife, Jill Biden, held it with two hands when he was sworn in as President Barack Obama's vice president.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris plans to use two Bibles, one used by Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice, and the other by family friend Regina Shelton, said a spokesperson for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Harris put her hand on the friend's Bible during her swearing-in ceremonies as U.S. senator and California attorney general.

In a salute to its graduate, Howard University's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel plans to ring its bell 49 times in honor of Kamala Harris, the 49th vice president, on Inauguration Day, the spokesperson said.

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