Gene Robinson’s Universalist Prayer

The following originally appeared in a recent Anglican Action e-newsletter.  If you would like to receive our monthly e-newsletter, click here and select “Anglican Action.”

It has been a momentous week here in Washington, with the Inauguration of President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon, and the annual March for Life at the National Mall on Thursday. Both events brought huge crowds (the Washington Times gives an estimate of 250,000 for the March for Life, and an amazing 1.8 million for the Inauguration.)

Anglicans had a presence at both events, especially at the Inauguration. The National Cathedral hosted the Inaugural prayer service on Wednesday, and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson gave the invocation at the Inaugural kickoff concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday.

Robinson’s invitation came on the heels of the choice of Rev. Rick Warren to give the Inaugural invocation. Warren caused many homosexual advocacy groups to slam President Obama for selecting the prominent California pastor and author, an opponent of same-sex marriage.

Episcopal reaction to the prayers offered by Robinson and Warren was mixed.

“I don’t think he acquitted himself very well,” Randall Balmer, a professor of American religious history at Columbia University and an Episcopal Priest, was quoted as saying about Warren. “To lead the nation in saying the Lord’s Prayer, which is so particularly Christian, was a mistake.”

Robinson’s prayer met with a friendlier reception from other clerics on the Religious Left, but the homosexual community was upset that HBO did not broadcast the prayer as part of its concert coverage. National Public Radio was eager to fill the gap, inviting Robinson on for a 30-minute interview the following day (his second appearance on NPR that week alone).

For those that missed it, Robinson began his prayer “O God of our many understandings,” and requested that this universalist God “Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.”

Episcopal Priest Fleming Rutledge has an excellent critique of the prayer that you can read by clicking here.

In addition to the Inaugural festivities, IRD/Anglican Action has been providing commentary on the other news of the world. IRD Staffer Mark Tooley writes about Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams’ recent denunciation of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as “Market-Worshiping” in FrontPage Magazine.

Religious Liberty Program Director Faith J.H. McDonnell has appeared on American Family Radio to discuss Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s comments on the Gaza Crisis as well as the California Supreme Court ruling on the property of several departing Episcopal parishes. Click on the above links and “hear report” to listen to Faith.