Why I am not complaining about Rick Warren's invocation

I know many people are upset both about Rev. Rick Warren's gave the invocation prayer at President Obama's inauguration. While I do not share Rev. Warren's understanding of aspects of Christian faith (or at least the one he describes in his Purpose Driven Life), I must say I do not think he spoke in a way that was divisive or sectarian.

Some people were opposed to his giving the invocation to prayer on principle since he has expressed views in the past (like his stance on homosexuality) that offend many. These views, however, encourage and do not offend many others. So I cannot oppose his being chosen solely on the grounds that some people do not like his views.

I spoke with dear friends today who noted he used individualistic language like "my" and "me", that he insisted on being sectarian by using the name of Jesus five times and that when he a had chance to be large he was small.

I will respond to each point in order: Concerning the first matter, he used first person singular pronouns twice ("me" and "my") and first person plural pronouns 49 times ("we" "us" "our"). Thus I am unable to judge his prayer self-centered, and I actually thought it focused nicely on the well-being of the whole nation.

Second, I feel Warren's invocation was not sectarian for two reasons. One, he used a great deal of inclusive language, including "You [God] are loving to everyone you have made," "When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us," and "Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all." Second, he noted that not all Americans share the same faith and carefully restricted his closing in the name Jesus to be representing only his own personal religious experience by saying, "I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua," etc.

For my money, I did not think it was a particularly good prayer. But neither do I feel any need to find something wrong with it.

Finally, changing gears, perhaps Obama's choice to have Warren give the invocation is reflective of why we elected him president: namely, he seems to aim at actually representing the people. Greatest common denominator religion - i.e. restricting ourselves to what everyone believes - doesn't finally represent what very many believe. And I fear it may rob us of the kinds of unique contributions that make us strong.

Read the transcript here.