Blog
We welcome your questions or suggestions of topics for discussion in our forum. It is our hope to generate meaningful dialogue around a whole range of subjects, from current events to religious traditions and beliefs. As we develop this section of the ICJS Web site, we offer this piece by Dr. Christopher M. Leighton posing questions and addressing issues raised by the inauguration ceremony of January 20, 2009.
Politics & Prayer
Prayer in the Public Square?
The entanglements of religion and politics on the local, national, and international scenes give rise to enormously vexing questions. Some of the issues came into focus during the inauguration ceremony of our new President of the United States, Barack Obama. We have invited some religious scholars, clergy, and community leaders to share their responses to the following concerns, and we invite you to join the conversation (please submit comments to blog@icjs.org).
- What are the purposes of prayer in the context of this critical moment in our nation's history? Does prayer offer citizens an opportunity to come together and affirm the commitments that bind us together as a nation "under God?" Does prayer unwittingly divide and polarize a country that does not share the same theological assumptions as the officiating clergy? Do public prayers enshrine the conviction that America is a "chosen nation?" Do these prayers reinforce American "exceptionalism" and lead us to see God as uniquely aligned with the reigning American agenda? Or does prayer underscore a heightened sense of duty to serve others and prompt us to confront our political, economic, and social failings at home and abroad?
- "Prayer is not generic social discourse," noted James Evans, the pastor at Auburn First Baptist Church at EthicsDaily.com. In prayers delivered at other Presidential inaugurations, Christian ministers and priests have frequently concluded "in Jesus' name" or "in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Is prayer only authentic when it is anchored within the particular tradition of the one who prays? Is Evans right in his critique of this ceremonial gesture in the public square? "A prayer that reflects a particular religious tradition has no place at a public event, and prayer that has no specific content is not prayer at all." Can a prayer be offered in a manner that is welcoming to those who belong to different religious traditions or who hold no religious faith? Given a history of imposing the religious convictions of the majority upon more vulnerable minorities, do Christians have a special obligation to avoid prayers that offend others and appear to privilege their traditions over the beliefs and practices of others?
- How would you compare the recitation of the poem by Elizabeth Alexander with the Invocation and Benediction? Was the poet's articulation of thoughts and feelings on this historic occasion a "secular" prayer?
"Praise song for the day… Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of. Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day… "
Or, was this an altogether different kind of linguistic performance?
Related Links
- Text of Rev. Rick Warren's inaugural invocation
- Text of Rev. Lowery's inauguration benediction
- Bishop Gene Robinson's Prayer for President-elect Barack Obama
- Inaugural Prayers Through History -- The Ultimate Archive
Responses
I agree that public prayer has been misused as a vehicle to proclaim God on the side of the US, the "Christian US"; on the side of Western status quo, etc. That public officials should proclaim their agenda and say that God blesses it neither serves God, democracy, nor the nations on the receiving end of our imperial justifications.
But to say that politically co-opted prayer represents all prayer, and should therefore be banned in public, overlooks the beauty of Elizabeth Alexander's poem which seemed more of a prayer than many Americans have heard from public officials in the last 20 years. Her poem sounded like a psalm to me in which the "speaker" lays out the hopes and dreams (struggles and praise) in which she finds herself before God.
Withholding the name of Elizabeth’s God can evoke assumptions about who Elizabeth’s god is. Each hearer is likely to mentally direct the psalm toward the name of transcendent power she/he recognizes. For those whose transcendence stops at the level of creation, so be it. I think what is important is that Alexander’s poem remembers the human struggle forward, and in doing so, this re-members the fractured body of marginalized humanity to the whole of creation as uniquely essential and valuable.
"Lilly Laity" (Bonnie Clarke)
Dear ICJS, Since this wasn't mentioned on your list of public prayer from last week's celebrations, I thought I'd forward it to you in the event that you hadn't heard or seen it. It was the president's first day in office and I for one was quite moved by it to the point of printing a copy of it and using it for quiet reflection for my own life direction. What challenges Rev. Watkins presented to each of us. Although I had never heard of her before, I know many of the points which she shared will long be a part of me. Shalom and thank you all for the wonderful work done by the Institute in promoting peace among brothers and sisters.
Grace A. Byerly
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