Once again, Veith has found a great little article illustrating the relativism of our culture. You may have heard that Rick Warren was asked by President-Elect Obama to say a prayer at his inauguration. Warren accepted and ever since there has been controversy on all sides: Pro-lifers were upset that Warren would participate in the inauguration of a President who is pro-choice; Gay marriage advocates were upset that Warren would be invited because he supported Proposition 8.
So at another inauguration event, Obama has invited episcopal bishop Gene Robinson to say a prayer. Gene Robinson, you might remember, is the first openly gay bishop in the episcopalian church. His appointment was actually the catalyst for many Episcopalian churches breaking away from the denomination.
Here are the Bishop's comments about his prayer:
"Bishop Robinson said he had been reading inaugural prayers through history and was “horrified” at how “specifically and aggressively Christian they were.”
“I am very clear,” he said, “that this will not be a Christian prayer, and I won’t be quoting Scripture or anything like that. The texts that I hold as sacred are not sacred texts for all Americans, and I want all people to feel that this is their prayer.”
“I am very clear,” he said, “that this will not be a Christian prayer, and I won’t be quoting Scripture or anything like that. The texts that I hold as sacred are not sacred texts for all Americans, and I want all people to feel that this is their prayer.”
What's interesting to me is the adjective he chose to use about the past prayers at inaugural events: "horrified." Really? The sad thing is that I believe he really means to use that word. In our world any exclusive claim is "horrifying!" (Insert loud scream of terror from slasher film at this point).
Notice also the underlying ideas of his statement: Belief in something is what makes it sacred for you. The Bible is sacred for me, but the Bhagavad Gita is sacred for you, etc.
Is there anyone who honestly cares about the invocation and prayer at inauguration services anyway? I would rather have none of it.
2 comments:
I think that it's rightly the choice of the President (or elected members of gov't) to have prayer at his inauguration and meetings, or not to have prayers. We, as a nation, chose that man to be President and everything about his term should be up to him; for better, or worse. (pending impeachment-worthy choices)
Yeah, I wish him to have an inaugural prayer, and to choose a minister who is Christian to offer it. But, really, the nation's will is winning over in this case and I'm not in a position to dictate anything. I didn't vote for the man, so I should expect to disagree with many things spanning his term.
For so long as we as a nation depend upon the politicians to uphold this country's image as a Christian nation, it seems that in this we will be doomed to believe in something far less than we were individually and collectively called to be as the Church - namely, Jesus Christ.
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