So rather than bring other religious leaders on board for the inauguration, he’ll just get rid of the “aggressively Christian” nature of the prayer himself.
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.”
Bishop Robinson said he might address the prayer to “the God of our many understandings,” language that he said he learned from the 12-step program he attended for his alcohol addiction.
Wow. This ought to go over about as well with most of America as Rick Warren did with the LGBT community.
If the goal is incorporating all Americans, why not just not say any prayer at all? After all, atheists and agnostics tend not to believe in a “God of” any “understandings”. Or are we just incorporating the Americans “Bishop” Robinson wants to?
by Stephan Tawney on Tue, Jan 13, 2009