America, we are here, our nation’s Capitol on this January the 21st 2013, the inauguration of our 45th [editor’s note, should be 44th] president Barack Obama. We come at this time to ask blessings upon our leaders, the president, vice president, members of Congress, all elected and appointed officials of the United States of America. We are here to ask blessings upon our armed forces, blessings upon all who contribute to the essence of the American spirit, the American dream. The opportunity to become whatever our mankind, womankind, allows us to be. This is the promise of America.
Myrlie Evers-Williams gives an invocation on January 21, 2013 in Washington, DC (AFP, Jewel Samad)
As we sing the words of belief, “this is my country,” let us act upon the meaning that everyone is included. May the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of every woman, man, boy and girl be honored. May all your people, especially the least of these, flourish in our blessed nation. One hundred fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation and 50 years after the March on Washington, we celebrate the spirit of our ancestors, which has allowed us to move from a nation of unborn hopes and a history of disenfranchised [votes] to today’s expression of a more perfect union. We ask, too, almighty that where our paths seem blanketed by [throngs] of oppression and riddle by pangs of despair we ask for your guidance toward the light of deliverance. And that the vision of those that came before us and dreamed of this day, that we recognize that their visions still inspire us.
They are a great cloud of witnesses unseen by the naked eye but all around us thankful that their living was not in vain. For every mountain you gave us the strength to climb. Your grace is pleaded to continue that climb for America and the world. We now stand beneath the shadow nation’s Capitol whose golden dome reflects the unity and democracy of one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Approximately four miles from where we are assembled the hallowed remains of men and women rest in Arlington Cemetery. They who believed, fought and died for this country. May their spirit infuse our being to work together with respect, enabling us to continue to build this nation, and in so doing we send a message to the world that we are strong, fierce in our strength, and ever vigilant in our pursuit of freedom. We ask that you grant our president the will to act courageously but cautiously when confronted with danger and to act prudently but deliberately when challenged by adversity. Please continue to bless his efforts to lead by example in consideration and favor of the diversity of our people.
Bless our families all across this nation.
We thank you for this opportunity of prayer to strengthen us for the journey through the days that lie ahead.
We invoke the prayers of our grandmothers, who taught us to pray, ‘God make me a blessing.’ Let their spirit guide us as we claim the spirit of old.
There’s something within me that holds the reins. There’s something within me that banishes pain. There’s something within me I cannot explain. But all I know America, there is something within. There is something within.
In Jesus’ name and the name of all who are holy and right we pray. Amen.
I originally wrote the following for BCC back on January 18, 2010.
Martin Luther King Jr. is one of my very favorite figures in the history of American politics and social thought. I have always had a special respect for the civil rights movement, even during my days as a conservative. But King himself holds a special place in my thinking today. I think this is largely because King represented a form of left- leaning liberalism that died in American politics when he died in Memphis.
Some of his greatest moments are the moments which made him a controversial figure during his day. In many ways, our image of King as a non-controversial figure misses out of some of the things which make him great.
In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, he rejects calls to wait rather than act, we see the most eloquent and passionate rejection of Burkean gradualism since Thomas Paine. In American thought, King is very much a mixture of Paine and Thoreau: a advocate of a rights revolution of non-violence. I am not sure if you can beat that.
His “Beyond Vietnam” speech stands as one of the most articulate moral arguments against that war. While we are well aware of the eventual widespread opposition to the Vietnam War, King’s 1967 speech was before the public turned against it. He took a stand against the war before most public officials would do so publicly (almost a year before Walter Conkite’s famed turn against the prudence of the war). The part of the speech which stands out most to me is his assertion that the Vietnamese were people, too. This is a truth that was lost on our war policy of that time, and ours.
When I lived in Idaho, it is not unusual to see a letter to the editor which complained about Martin Luther King Day because King was a communist. The best part of the communist charge is that it is false and a relic of a time when unpopular figure of the left was a communist. He was an egalitarian and a radical one at that. He was a critic of American capitalism. This might make him some form of social democrat or socialist (I proudly claim to be both) but he is anything but a Soviet Marxist. In many way he was a Hugh Nibley with social organization skills.
Our next installment in our inaugural prayer series comes from Hellmut Lotz. He is a political scientist and campaign consultant living in Germany. He also lived in Utah and Maryland for a total of 17 years.
Here is Hellmut’s prayer for today’s Inauguration:
Bless us with the humility to accept logic and evidence.
Bless us with the generosity to cooperate with one another.
Bless us with the courage to defend the rights of the few and the unpopular.
And bless us with the charity to nurture the weak, the children, the old, and the unfortunate.
I have not seen The Book of Mormon: The Musical. To be honest, I have not seen any musicals that are not at a local high school or community college.
Often while wondering about musicals about sacred texts, I have wondered a few times about the possibilities of a musical version of my favorite book…the book that is the focus of my academic work….the book which changed my life.
As it turns out, that musical is already in production and will be opening in Oxford, England January 30 and playing until February 2.
Okay, I may be the only person who gets this excited about anything related Rawls. There are many who understand his work better than I do. There are many who have written great articles and books about Rawls. I…well… am still working on that dissertation on Rawls (I am ACTUALLY now working on it…well…when not writing this post…)…There was a well received conference paper…but when it comes to the hero worship of Rawls…I have that down.
So, when I first heard mention of the A Theory of Justice: The Musical!, I assumed it was a YouTube spoof of some sort. However, that was not the case. It is a real musical!
I interviewed via email Eylon Aslan-Levy who, along with fellow Oxford students Ramin Sabi and Tommy Peto, is one of the co-authors and co-producers of A Theory of Justice: The Musical!
Eylon notes that it was Ramin who came up with the initial idea.
“I’ve got a great idea – let’s write A Theory of Justice: The Musical!” said Ramin and the musical was conceived.
“I laughed, adding that it would probably help with revision. We started toying with some ideas for a plot (we knew we wanted a Utilitarian barbershop quartet from day one!) and played around with some ideas on the piano, and eventually realised that we had a real gem of a musical on our hands, with a lot of potential. We wondered whether we could pull it off, and reckoned that if not in Oxford, where else?” writes Eylon.
The first prayer in our inaugural prayer series comes from Eric Nielson. Eric is an mechanical engineer and he lives in the Midwest. I want to thank him for not only getting us started, but also for writing a thoughtful prayer.
He is introduces himself as follows:
My name is Eric Nielson. I am a lifelong faithful Latter-day Saint. My political views are quite conservative and I would consider myself far right. Yet, I am not confident that my political views are the best for society as a whole. I suspect they are mostly a reflection of my own self interests, or at least what I perceive them to be.
I voted for Mitt Romney, and frankly I felt that the country made a big mistake in re-electing President Obama. I feel that fiscal responsibility is something that our government sorely needs, and I acknowledge that to do this, spending would need to be reduced on both sides of the aisle.
I am very concerned for our country’s long term well being. I have such fundamental disagreements with our current president, that I admit that giving such a prayer would be a difficult thing for me to do. I would try to put my personal opinions in the background, and give an appropriate prayer. I would hope to find an appropriate sincerity.
As you will see below, Eric does an amazing job of writing a sincere and appropriate prayer.
Heavenly Father,
We come before thee at a very important time, to inaugurate Barack Obama as the President of the United States.
We are so grateful for the freedoms that we enjoy, and for the blessings that come through self government. We acknowledge thy hand in establishing this great country, and securing the blessings that we all enjoy as a result. We are grateful for President Obama, and for his willingness to take on this great responsibility in representing our entire nation to the whole world. We ask thee to bless him that he may be able to fulfill not only his responsibilities as President, but also his responsibilities as a husband and as a father.
We ask that thy influence will continue with us as we progress into an uncertain future. We ask thee to bless our nation and the world with peace and prosperity. Please bless our president with the wisdom to lead this nation in a way that will be of the greatest benefit to its’ citizens and to its’ allies.
We express our love for thee, and our dependence on thee. Please bless President Barack Obama, and bless the United States of America.
With all of the focus on the inaugural prayers, I wanted to invite all of you to consider what you might say if you were an inaugural prayer speaker.
I would also invite you to share your prayer with us here at Faith-Promoting Rumor and Patheos.
Email me your prayer at chrishenrichsen@me.com. I will start sharing the prayers as they start coming in and through Inauguration Day on Monday.
We want prayers from those of all faiths and religions. Non-believers are welcome as well. We welcome prayers from all political persuasions and prayers from all over the world.
My hope is that the prayers will be between 50 and 150 words. Please also include a brief paragraph telling us a little about yourself.
Thank you. I believe that prayer is something that can bring us together. There is no better time for unity and healing.
1. Is the large segment of society which believes that homosexuality is a sin being ostracized from the public square?
2. Who will deliver the benediction instead of Giglio?
I will address question #1 later this week. However, we are only a week away from the inauguration, so I will start with my recommendation for another benediction speaker.
Since my wife and I got our official invitations to the inauguration on Saturday, I am sure the Inauguration Committee will be very interested in what I have to say.
Evers-Williams is the former chairwoman of the NAACP. She is also the widow of Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who was gunned down in front of their home in Mississippi in 1963. (I am including a brief video of her talking about their work below).
While the choice of Evers-Williams is historical because of who she is…it is also historical on a number of other ways.
She will be the first woman to offer a prayer at a Presidential Inauguration. This somewhat surprised me, though given the relatively recent entry of women into the clergy, maybe it should’t be so surprising.
Ever-Williams will also be the first layperson to offer a prayer at a Presidential Inauguration. This aspect of the announcement stuck out to me the most because it symbolizes a change the role of both prayer and clergy in American society. Continue reading “Public Prayer: Myrlie Evers-Williams to Pray at Inauguration”
I was recently perusing the latest publications of NAMI and happened on an article in the Journal of Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture that caused me to reflect more deeply on LDS attitudes toward Book of Mormon historicity. The article, “The Historicity of the Book of Mormon,” was originally a paper presented by Elder Dallin H. Oaks at the 1993 FARMS Annual Dinner, but was subsequently published in the volume Historicity and the Latter-day Saint Scriptures (2001), edited by Paul Hoskisson. The fact that the editor chose to re-publish the paper suggests that he thought it had something important to say in the climate of current discussions about the origin of the Book of Mormon.
This year was an interesting year for FPR. We moved to Patheos at this time last year, but it didn’t seem to change us much. In fact, you would hardly know it was the Mormon Moment by visiting FPR this year. Not a single post on Mitt Romney, the Book of Mormon Musical, or Pantsmaggedon.
We did, however, actually play some important part in the Mormon Political Moment with Chris H.’s bid for Wyoming’s congressional seat. Chris also suffered a real tragedy with the murders on his college campus by a gunman.
