Tuesday - no one saw the rabbi..

I've posted several times this week on issues related to prayer at the inauguration of the new president. H/T to the Deacon's Bench for this lead to a TIME essay. Follow the link at the end of the piece to an interesting history of inaugural prayers and invitations to clergy.


As recently as July '08, Obama vistited Israel and prayed at the Western Wall, placing a written prayer in a crack in the wall as is the custom. (Photo: AP)

Over at TIME, Amy Sullivan looks over the roster of people on the inaugural dais and finds one or two glaring omissions:

Inauguration audiences on Tuesday will hear the new President deliver the most anticipated Inaugural Address since John F. Kennedy. They'll hear the Queen of Soul sing and Yo-Yo Ma play. They'll listen to hear if Rick Warren gets preachy when he prays. But there's one thing they won't hear: Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam.

That's because for the sixth straight presidential Inauguration, rabbis won't have a place on the dais. And the Jewish faith isn't the only religious tradition that continues to be snubbed. Since 1985, only Evangelical Protestants have played a part in the swearing-in ceremony. That will continue again this year when megachurch pastor Warren delivers the invocation and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, an African-American Evangelical, offers the benediction. At a time when the United States is more religiously diverse than at any other point in its history, and Obama's entire campaign was built on the notion of a newfound inclusiveness and multiculturalism, it seems a glaring omission.

The recent Evangelical Protestant monopoly began in 1989, when George H.W. Bush asked Billy Graham to deliver both the invocation and benediction (the opening and closing prayers) at his Inauguration. Graham did the same for Bill Clinton in 1993 and again in 1997. The decision to delegate the religious role to Graham seemed a reasonable alternative to filling the stage with an ever-growing number of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu and Baha'i clergy. The famous Evangelist regularly topped the list of people Americans most admired, and he prayed in fairly broad terms, referring just to "God" and using the formulation "I pray" instead of "we pray" to make clear that he was not imposing his Christian prayer on the entire citizenry.

But the absence of non-Christian religious leaders was felt even more deeply starting in 2001, when Graham's son Franklin ended his invocation with an exclusive statement: "We ... acknowledge you alone as our Lord, our Savior and our Redeemer. We pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit." This was not a prayer offered on behalf of all Americans but on behalf of Christians alone. It bookended George W. Bush's Inauguration with a benediction by Kirbyjon Caldwell that declared, "We respectfully submit this humble prayer in the name that's above all other names, Jesus the Christ," and instructed, "Let all who agree say 'Amen.' " If you didn't agree, there was apparently nothing for you to do but shuffle your feet.

For non-Christians, but particularly for Jews who had gotten used to having a place on the dais, the development was deeply disturbing. After all, traditionally, the religious roster at presidential swearing ins looked something like the set-up to an old joke: "A priest, a pastor and a rabbi walk into an Inauguration ..." Rabbis prayed at a majority of Inaugurations that took place between 1949 and 1985, as did Catholic priests.

(for more, including the history of prayer at U.S. presidential inaugurations, see TIME) wuerl inauguration