Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 24, 1993 TAG: 9301210159
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cody Lowe
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
INAUGURAL PRAYERS REFLECT FAITH
You have to figure the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and the assorted other religious leaders who blasted Bill Clinton for not quoting Scripture correctly at the Democratic Convention are pretty happy with his inaugural address.Clinton got it right this time, even used the King James Version, and he quoted from the New Testament.
"And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not." He didn't say so, but that's Galatians 6:9.
As predicted, indeed as tradition dictates, the entire inaugural ceremony was salted with religious references - this year with the politically correct and incorrect.
The inauguration included one of the two people who have validated every president for nearly a half century: the Rev. Billy Graham. (The other person, of course, is Bob Hope.)
Graham took an intriguingly traditional and non-traditional approach in his invocation and benediction.
Although the nation has a "spiritual foundation" on "principles rooted in Holy Scripture," Graham said, we "cannot say we are a righteous people." The nation is "reaping the whirlwind of crime, racism, immorality and social injustice," he prayed. "We need to turn to you."
Although Graham began the prayer by addressing God as "Father" - a dangerously sexist move in some circles - he ended it in "the name of the one who was called Wonderful Counselor . . . Mighty God . . . Prince of Peace." All those references are used as titles for Christ, but Graham didn't specifically use Jesus' name.
The benediction followed traditional Christian formulas, ending "in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost."
Anyone who expected Graham to abandon his Christian distinctive in his prayers doesn't understand the evangelist's sense of mission. In fact, such an expectation would have been unfair and unwarranted.
There are those who see any hint of anything religious in any public ceremony or event as an unconstitutional infringement. In this case, the prayers merely reflect the religious faith of the new president and fall somewhere short of an establishment of religion.
We must and should always be sensitive to the variety of religious beliefs of the nation's citizens. No one should be made to feel excluded from civic functions because his or her religious belief is different from the majority's.
On the other hand, it seems unreasonable to expect that the person assuming the mantle of the presidency should not be able to publicly exhort whatever deity he or she worships for blessings and favor. If the president were Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic or Zoroastrian, he should have been able to call on someone to offer a prayer in that faith.
Well, that may be a topic for another column.
There were other religious aspects to Wednesday's events.
The early morning prayer service Clinton and Vice President Al Gore attended did include prayers by clergy of many faiths and denominations.
Clinton's inaugural speech included several religious references in addition to the specific quote of Scripture. He talked about the nation's founders declaration of purpose "to the Almighty." The nation needs "faith and discipline," he said, but would answer its call to service "with God's help."
Maya Angelou's poem referred to "the Creator" of rocks, rivers and trees; and it included a long list of religious, ethnic, racial and social groups in its "prayer" for unity.
At least one person in the newspaper office did wonder about the "pantheistic evolutionism" of the poem, however.
It should be noted, as well, that Clinton did make the obligatory reference to that other deity worshiped by many Virginians: Thomas Jefferson.
Cody Lowe reports on religious issues for this newspaper.