Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy caused a splash when he requested a replica of a basement-bound painting of Jesus walking on water to be hung behind his desk in his federal office.
The move comes about a month after Duffy, 53, called for the massive, 81-year-old “Christ on the Water” painting to, once again, be prominently displayed in the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, after it was sidelined during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Duffy posted to X on Tuesday, revealing a replica of the “Christ on the Water” painting has been mounted in his office in Washington, D.C., after earning accolades for pulling the original painting out of the basement of the USMMA.
The @USMMAO Christ on the Water painting is a beautiful reminder of the power of faith when we need it most.
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) May 7, 2025
While we work on getting the piece out of the academy’s basement and back in a place of prominence, I figured there was no better place to hang a copy than right here at… pic.twitter.com/zrhtS6JRmw
The print is a copy of a 1944 painting by U.S. Maritime Service Lt. Hunter Wood. It depicts Jesus walking on water, toward merchant seamen floating in a lifeboat after their ship was torpedoed. Once in a place of prominence, the painting, created using sail canvas, marine paints, and ship varnish, was reportedly moved to the school’s flood-prone lower level, below the USMMA’s interfaith sanctuary, known as the Mariners Chapel.
In January 2023, when Biden was still in office, the 10-by-19-foot painting was covered with a white curtain after Michael Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, demanded USMMA superintendent Vice Admiral Joanna Nunan remove the “massive sectarian painting illustrating the supremacy of Jesus Christ” from its spot in the oft-utilized meeting room in the academy’s administrative building, the Catholic News Agency reported.
“The outrageousness of that Jesus painting’s display is only further exacerbated by the fact that this room is also used regularly for USMMA honor code violation boards, where midshipmen are literally fighting for their careers, and, often even more, as they face the shameful ignominy of potential expulsion with prejudice if found guilty of USMMA honor code violations,” Weinstein said.
Ultimately, the painting was moved to the basement, which Fox News reported was “prone to flooding.”
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Several lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), called on Nunan to protest Weinstein’s demand.
“Under the Supreme Court’s standard for long-standing government displays, the painting is perfectly in keeping with the establishment clause [of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution],” Cruz wrote in a statement issued Feb. 21, 2023.
He added, “Your decision to move it, and to discontinue use of the conference room it presently is located in, is regrettable and suggests you believe a painting that tens of thousands of midshipmen, faculty, staff, and visitors have viewed for more than half a century is now suddenly unconstitutional.”
Duffy, a Catholic, is now pushing back against the decision to censor the historic work of art.
Midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy erupted in applause when @SecDuffy demanded a painting of Jesus saving merchant mariners be restored.
— Jon Brown (@JonBrownDC) April 9, 2025
The Biden admin put a curtain over the painting before putting it in a flood-prone basement.
"Let's bring Him up!" pic.twitter.com/qQvLKXKE5r
Calling for the painting to be rehung, the secretary said during a speech at Kings Point, “Can we bring Jesus up from the basement? Let’s not put Jesus in the basement! Let’s get Him out! Let’s bring Him up!”
The comment prompted a standing ovation from the midshipmen gathered at the USMMA.
“You want Jesus up from the basement?” asked Duffy in response to the applause. “All right, great! … That was the loudest applause we got.”
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