Gene Robinson on his prayer

Posted on January 14, 2009 
Filed under News

Gene RobinsonPresident-elect Barack Obama has asked Bishop Gene Robinson… to deliver the invocation at a kickoff inaugural event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, two days before the inauguration itself. …

In recent years, and especially during the inaugurations of President George W. Bush, ministers gave explicitly Christian prayers. Bishop Robinson said he had been rereading inaugural prayers through history and was “horrified” at how “specifically and aggressively Christian they were.”

Bishop Robinson said, “I am very clear 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.”

He said he might address the prayer to “the God of our many understandings,” language he said he learned from the 12-step program he has attended for his alcohol addiction.

– read the full report from The New York Times. And there’s an audio interview from NPR.

(Photo: Episcopal News Service/Mike Collins)