Duffy celebrates as USMMA Jesus painting brought up from basement

A historic painting of Jesus saving sailors lost at sea was brought up last week from a chapel basement at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Kings Point, New York, according to a midshipman who spoke to The Christian Post.

“All glory to God! ‘Christ on the Water’ is out of the basement,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted to X Friday, along with a photo the midshipman shared with CP last Thursday. “Work will continue to get it fully restored and back into a place of prominence. To our amazing men and women at [USMMA] — religious expression is something we celebrate, not condemn.”

All glory to God!

“Christ on the Water” is out of the basement. Work will continue to get it fully restored and back into a place of prominence.

To our amazing men and women at @UsmmaO — religious expression is something we celebrate, not condemn. https://t.co/m4l4r8Y3nUpic.twitter.com/psZloDRiDJ

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) August 8, 2025

The relocation of the 1944 painting, titled “Christ on the Water,” comes four months after Duffy first visited the USMMA and drew raucous applause from midshipmen when he called for its restoration during a speech at the school’s annual Battle Standard Dinner on April 3.

The painting had hung in the USMMA’s Wiley Hall for 76 years until a 2023 letter from Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder Mikey Weinstein demanded its removal, claiming a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Under the leadership of the recently removed USMMA Superintendent Vice Adm. Joanna M. Nunan, the school’s administration first covered the painting with a curtain during official events before placing it in the flood-prone basement of the school’s chapel.

CP has reached out to the USMMA for comment regarding the specifics of the painting’s relocation, and will update this story if a response is received.

Midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy erupted in applause when @SecDuffy demanded a painting of Jesus saving merchant mariners be restored.

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

— Jon Brown (@JonBrownDC) April 9, 2025

Weinstein, who has threatened “World War 8” if the painting is restored to its original location, condemned the recent news in a statement to CP that accused Duffy of being a Christian nationalist.

“The only type of disingenuous religious expression this MAGA sycophantic servile Secretary Duffy celebrates here is extremist, Christian nationalism, make no doubt about it,” he said.

“If it goes back to the same mandatory conference room MRFF fought to have it taken down from, the unconstitutional restoration of this blatantly sectarian expression of wretched, fundamentalist Christian supremacy and triumphalism is as repugnant to our U.S. Constitution’s separation of church and state as it would be for an ice cream aficionado if an ice cream shop offered a dog feces flavor to the public.”

Midshipmen who have spoken to CP in recent months explained that “Christ on the Water” had come to symbolize God caring for them amid the storms in their own lives.

“I remember many times when I used to pray underneath that painting when I was on the verge of failing a class, or I had big tests, or I was worried about something,” one midshipman said. “I’ve prayed underneath that painting when it used to be in Wiley Hall. So to me, it’s a very significant, important painting, and I think it’s an important part of the school’s history.”

Despite its historic nature, the painting has become a flashpoint of debate amid concerns that the Trump administration is not maintaining an appropriate separation between church and state.

Last month, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., grilled Duffy about the painting and suggested that having a painting of Jesus in an administrative building with mandatory meetings and disciplinary hearings threatens to alienate non-Christian midshipmen.

Duffy, who has hung a replica of the painting in his office at the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., pushed back against Huffman’s concerns, noting, “We’re all in this together.” He also suggested members of Congress should be more concerned with fixing the dilapidated state of the USMMA, where midshipmen have reportedly gone for months at a time without hot water.