Word: religiousity
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For non-Christians, but particularly for Jews who had gotten used to having a place on the dais, the development was deeply disturbing. After all, traditionally, the religious roster at presidential swearing ins looked something like the set-up to an old joke: "A priest, a pastor and a rabbi...
It is true that Jewish religious leaders weren't on the dais in 1937, when Franklin D. Roosevelt first introduced the tradition of an Inaugural prayer. Up until then, presidential Inaugurations did not include prayers. Instead, the vice-presidential swearing in took place at a separate ceremony in the Senate...
Each of Roosevelt's next two Inaugurations featured a Protestant minister and a Catholic priest. Then in 1949, Rabbi Samuel Thurman from Harry Truman's home state of Missouri joined a Baptist pastor and Catholic priest to deliver a prayer at the Inauguration. This was right around the time when...
As the immigration reforms of the 1960s brought waves of immigrants from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, religious diversity in the U.S. became more complicated. In an effort to contain the interfaith gathering on the Inaugural dais, Jimmy Carter limited the religious slots at his 1977 swearing in...
And now Obama's Inauguration will follow the recent pattern of being Protestant-only. In addition, the Inauguration team chose Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson to offer the prayer at Sunday's opening-ceremony concert, and it selected Sharon Watkins, head of the Protestant denomination Disciples of Christ, to deliver the...