The Rev. Rick Warren's much anticipated invocation at yesterday's inauguration concluded with reference to Jesus not once but four times: "...in the name of Yeshua, Issa, Jesus, Jesus." These Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, and English renditions bowed to the diversity of Christians, yet failed the world religion inclusivity test. In the end he was true to his Evangelical worldview.
In his Inauguration Speech Mr. Obama said, "We know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers."
In my estimation we have a long way to go to fulfill Mr. Obama's broader vision. I write this as I watch a Wednesday morning National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral. The words and songs, not unexpectedly, are taken from the Jewish-Christian tradition.
I reflect on Scriptural words that Mr. Obama incorporated into his Inauguration Speech, that it is time to give up childish ways. A narrow religious outlook, that fails to embrace pluralism of belief and non-belief, relatively speaking, is childish. It's childish relative to First Amendment rights and it's childish relative to the rich and yeasty faiths and philosophies we hold in dynamic community in the American experience.
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While I grasp the logic of why you're taking issue with Warren's prayer, I do have to wonder why you would expect him to pray in any other way.
A quick reading of Acts chapters 4 and 5 presents a tidy summary of the beliefs of Christians regarding the unapologetic proclamation of the name of Jesus, even when threatened with persecution.
When considering any modern Christian individual who seeks to follow the biblical account of Christ's teachings and the model of the early church rather than a contemporary ecumenical ideal, it seems rather predictable.
I think Obama was exhibiting true tolerance by inviting Warren. Tolerance is nothing more than actually tolerating that which you do not agree with. Expecting others to act according to your own ideals is, I think, pretty intolerant, particularly when you use their own scriptures to brand their difference of opinion as childish.
In the end he was true to his Evangelical worldview, indeed. And I, for one, respect that.
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