Inauguration Prayers

We know Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States today, so the real question on everyone's mind is: "Will Rick Warren pray in the name of Jesus?"

By now I'm sure you've heard of the controversy swirling around Obama's selection of Warren to give the invocation at today's inauguration ceremony. The noise came primarily from those who focus on Warren's support for Proposition 8, California's recent decision to ban gay marriage in spite of the state supreme court's ruling that it was unconstitutional.

Of course, the temptation is great to dilute the prayers at these events in order to serve the interests of civil religion, the notion that religion is good as long as it is vague enough to refer only to morality and inspiration. In this vein, the generic term "God" is far more preferable than specifically Christian terminology such as "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" or "Jesus Christ."

Here is a spot on the web that reproduces all the inauguration prayers (since 1937, when this tradition started). For fun, you can use your browser's "Find" tool to see everyone who used "Jesus" in his prayer. [In Internet Explorer, look for the drop-down menu by the magnifying glass on the upper right side.]

It's also interesting to note that, unlike previous inaugurations of both parties who had clergy of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths represented, this year's events are all variations or mutations of Protestant Christianity: a white conservative evangelical, a white liberal homosexual mainliner, and an African American liberal. I guess this is the new cross-section of faith in the United States.