Watch live coverage of the Inauguration all day Tuesday beginning with "Good Morning America" at 7 a. Warren invoked the name of Jesus in prayer, despite comments from critics who had hoped the invocation would be more "inclusive" of Americans who are not Christian. He is going to pray consistent with his calling as an evangelical pastor. He also urged Americans to "seek the common good for all" for a "more prosperous nation and peaceful planet.
As president-elect, Barack Obama sought spiritual diversity when he chose Warren to lead the invocation and the liberal black Rev. Joseph Lowery to give the benediction.
Warren had been tight-lipped right up until he delivered the traditional kick-off prayer, refusing interviews with more than media outlets, including ABCNews.
Warren, who angered critics with his socially conservative views on abortion and gay marriage, had urged his Orange County congregation to support California's Proposition 8 -- the successful campaign to ban same-sex marriage.
Protests over Obama's choice still resonated the day before the inauguration, as Warren gave the keynote address at Martin Luther King's birthday celebrations in Atlanta.
At that commemorative service, Warren again avoided controversy and borrowed a theme from the civil rights movement, "We Shall Overcome.
Over the weekend, about gay rights supporters had marched and waved rainbow flags outside Warren's church in Lake Forest, Calif. Problematic preachers like Warren have woven through the political life of Barack Obama, like a coat of many colors, all the way up to his inauguration as the 44th U.
First, firebrand Rev. Jeremiah Wright nearly derailed Obama's fight for the Democratic nomination. The uproar over his remarks from the pulpit such as "God damn America" and the U. Then, the president-elect, who is a Christian, touched off a firestorm of controversy with Warren's selection. As if to open the big tent even more, Obama picked V.
Gene Robinson, the openly gay Anglican bishop from New Hampshire, to give the invocation at the start of inaugural events at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday. Robinson had previously called Obama's choice of Warren a "slap in the face. Gay rights advocates fumed over remarks Warren made to Beliefnet in December suggesting that if gay marriage were legal, why not incest, polygamy or "an older guy marrying a child? Bush's second inauguration in Myrlie Evers-Williams, past chairman of the NAACP and widow of murdered civil rights leader activist Medgar Evers, will give the invocation Monday, although she is not a member of the clergy.
Friday, the Presidential Inaugural Committee will release the names of clergy and religious leaders who will offer prayers and give the homily at the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday.
Facebook Twitter Email. Episcopal pastor named to bless Obama inauguration. Hamilton is founding pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, which began in a funeral home but has grown to 16, members - the largest church in the denomination.
Naming the speakers for the Inaugural National Prayer Service has become a political and religious hot potato. Now, a speaker's views on gay rights and same sex marriage gets critical attention. So does the diversity -- or lack of diversity -- among the denominations represented on the program. The initial choice for the benediction prayer at Monday's swearing-in ceremony, Rev. Louie Giglio, was quickly withdrawn after his views opposing same-sex marriage drew criticism. He's been replaced by Rev.
Luis Leon, pastor of the church across from the White House, where presidents have worshiped for generations.
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