Wasn’t that a remarkably Protestant festival of civil religion today at the U.S. Capitol?
ABC News! What "cloud of witnesses"?
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Connecting with the Crowns sisterhood
Let people say whatever they wish about Rick Warren’s invocation. I loved CNN’s shot of church women shedding tears as Warren invoked Martin Luther King Jr., and others in the great cloud of witnesses, shouting with joy in heaven.
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Gasp! Most folks OK with Warren!
Did I miss the poll on the status of the other ordained participants in this festival of public-discourse?
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Prayers and protests, inauguration style
Sitting in my house a few blocks from the Capitol, I’ve heard sirens blaring for days. Parking is difficult to find. The bridges are closed. Many of my friends have fled to Miami for the week. The mainstream media, which gave fawning coverage to President-elect Barack Obama throughout his campaign for president, is continuing with the love fest. I became a reporter during the George W. Bush presidency so the difference is notable.
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Does HBO fear a gay-friendly planet?
Home Box Office omitted Bishop Gene Robinson’s invocation in its coverage of the “We Are One” pre-Inauguration concert on Sunday. Assorted bloggers, including TV critic Aaron Barnhart of The Kansas City Star and nka of TPM Café, are speculating about whether this omission amounted to censorship, and who should be blamed for it. Barnhart proposes the odd theory, as one of three possibilities, that the Obama campaign “never intended for Robinson to be seen on national TV.”
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Inaugural prayers, sermons and controversies
My sick daughter/frozen pipes/burst pipes trifecta-of-chaos this weekend prevented me from fully enjoying the pre-inaugural festivities here in Washington. But I watched a bit of the celebrity concert that got things going (I can’t get enough of Mary J.) and was sorry to see that HBO did not broadcast the opening prayer by Bishop Gene Robinson.
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On a wing and a prayer
How awesome is Chesley B. Sullenberger, the heroic pilot who saved everyone’s life in his daring landing in the Hudson? I just can’t read enough about the perfect landing and the brilliant rescue operation. Of course, I’m one of those people who can’t drive across a bridge without contemplating what I’d do if, say, the bridge suddenly collapsed and I ended up in the middle of the icy Potomac.
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Not your usual sports & God story
As a culture, we are still in the midst of the great secular holy season called the NFL playoffs. That means GetReligion readers will have to put up with a few more reports about faith and football, as opposed to the civil religion built around faith IN football.
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Reporting on Vatican reports
The Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education completed its report on the health of U.S. seminaries and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops posted the report this week. The in-depth look at seminaries was prompted by the sexual abuse crisis that received so much attention a few years ago. The report was generally positive and said that the situation at seminaries had improved in certain areas. The Catholic News Service sums it up this way:
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