Religion & Law

Pertinent to our recent thread regarding inaugural prayers and religious diversity, Maggie Gallagher offers these tongue-in-check reflections in a column today on Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson's plans for his inaugural-related prayer:

Episcopalian Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who will pray at President-elect Obama's request on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, has been reading through inaugural prayers in history. He is "horrified" at how "specifically and aggressively Christian they were," according to The New York Times.

. . .

Bishop Robinson may have inadvertently relieved some folks' minds by making it clear that his prayer "will not be a Christian prayer and I won't be quoting Scripture or anything like that."

Robinson is ruminating on alternatives such as praying to "the God of our many understandings," a language he said he learned during his stint in alcohol rehab.

Perhaps in the future, . . . presidential prayers can be re-addressed: To Whom It May Concern.