Rick Warren’s prayer, text and video, from the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
Almighty God — our Father. Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, ‘Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.’ And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.
Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King, and a great cloud of witnesses, are shouting in heaven.
Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice-President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom, and justice for all.
When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.
And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes — even when we differ.
Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation, and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations and all people will stand accountable before you.
We now commit our new president, and his wife Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.
I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life — Yeshua, Isa, Jesús, Jesus — who taught us to pray:
Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.
How sad!!!! It is with this utter nonsense that the invocation for Obama’s inauguration started. It was delivered by a creep, a religious fundamentalist, a gay fearer, a backwards individual, a scumbag, a right-wing conservative idiot, called Rick Warren. He said:
Our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is One.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.
If this is not utter shit (sorry for my expression, but this is what it is), then what is?
Here’s a list:
1. Logical mistakes? They abound! How can it be that everything we see and we don’t see exists?
2. Abiding to silly conventions? why does he say “he” for his god? how does he know he is male?
3. Israel? What does Israel have to do with the crowd there? As far as we know, despite Obama having ticked all boxes of political correctness and diversity (he’s Hawaiian, Irish, Kenyan, Indonesian,…) he is not related to Israel.
Why does the day of inauguration of a president have to start with such idiocies?
Takis,
I’m sorry that Warren’s prayer upset you (trust me, there were probably many religious conservatives that were upset for him even being there, for the other side of it).
1) I’m not exactly sure how it’s a logical problem that things that we see and don’t see both exist (he’s borrowing this from a 4th-century Christian creed). I suppose it depends on your definition of “see”. Christians believe that there are angelic beings and other realms that exist but we do not “see” them (not yet, anyway) in the empirical sense. However, as an astrophysicist, there are plenty of things in the universe that are not “seen” (as in with our eyes with light) and yet we believe they are there, due to other empirical evidence, such as dark matter and dark energy. Many scientists believe there are other universes even that exist, but we will never “see” those (I suppose not, anyway, but I’ve been wrong on plenty). The point that Warren makes is that whatever exists, whether we are aware of it empirically or not, was made by God. He’s not saying “everything that exists and doesn’t exist exists”, which would be a contradiction. If you have a belief system that insists that the only things that exist are those that can be empirically measured, then I suppose that you would have an objection, but not about a contradiction. Besides, how do you empirically measure the statement that “the only things that exist are those that can be empirically measured” to verify that it is true?
2) I suppose this is a matter of what you actually believe concerning religion, but Warren calls God a “he” not because God is a male but because God reveals himself in the Judeo-Christian tradition as “Father” and specifically to Christians as the “Son”. These are titles that have more to do with roles than gender, since Christians believe God has no gender. There are plenty of female attributes ascribed to God in the Scriptures, but as far as naming is concerned “he” is pretty consistent.
3) He’s quoting a Scripture from the Old Testament, which is called the “Shema”, which is kind of a Hebrew creed of sorts, to affirm the oneness of God (something common, of course, to Christians, Jews, and Muslims, but not to others). I have no idea why he quoted it per se, but there it is.
I personally have little use for civil religion myself as a Christian but I don’t see why your first objection is relevant and as far as the second two go, he’s certainly sticking to a particular religious view there, which I appreciate that you might not be interested in. I suppose this is the vision our new president (who I don’t agree with on a lot of things, mind you) has for America, where people who simply do not agree on things (which is just fine!) at least end up in the same place so that they hear each other’s voices. There were plenty of other people participating yesterday in their own way that don’t agree with Warren.
And if you think Warren is a fundamentalist, you need to maybe read up on him more.