Jesus on the inaugural stage Jesus at inaugurations: It's the same old, same old
By Michael J. Jordan
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
January 24, 2001
NEW YORK, — For those Jews taken aback by the
invocation of ``Jesus the Christ" and ``the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit"
at President Bush's inauguration, rest assured: This was nothing new.
According to the Anti-Defamation League -- which has fielded a
number of inquiries since Saturday's inauguration festivities at its New
York
headquarters and regional offices -- Jesus has been referred to in each
inauguration of the past 60 years.
``We've heard from members of the community about this, through e-
mails and phone calls, who were disturbed by what they heard," said Abraham
Foxman, national director of the ADL. ``But we're not responding because
this
is not unusual.
``That's the tradition. We would have liked it to be a bit more
inclusive," Foxman said. ``But on the other hand, the new president is
entitled to
have his moment of personal faith."
The ADL had attracted headlines during the presidential campaign
when it publicly criticized the Jewish vice presidential candidate, Joseph
Lieberman, for invoking God and religion too often.
But the Christian flavor of inaugural ceremonies dates to the very
first.
In a 1996 article in the Columbia Law Review titled ``Rethinking the
Constitutionality of Ceremonial Deism," Steven Epstein wrote that ``formal
prayers by Christian ministers have been associated with presidential
inaugurations since the inauguration of George Washington."
``Although the venue of inaugural prayers [has] moved from the church
to the Capitol the Christian nature of the prayers has remained to this
day."
Consider the following, all of which have been cited in the
Congressional Record:
* During the second Clinton inauguration in 1997, an invocation was
given in the name of ``Father and God" and ended invoking ``the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit."
* On Jan. 20, 1993, the prayer for President Clinton and Vice President
Al Gore included ``in the name of the One who was called Wonderful
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace."
* On Jan. 20, 1989, the prayer for President Bush mentioned ``in the
name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
* At the first inauguration of President Reagan in 1981, the prayer
called on the ``Lord of lords and King of kings, even Jesus Christ" to help
us
``stand proudly as American citizens."
* At the 1977 inauguration of Jimmy Carter, the prayer stated we
``build a nation here on Earth that in its manner of life anticipates Thine
everlasting kingdom in heaven... in the name of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and
our
Savior."
* At the 1961 inauguration of John F. Kennedy, two religious leaders
recited ``In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen."
* And in 1937, a minister called on God to ``bless abundantly our
Chief Magistrate," Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ``through Christ, our Lord."
Foxman attributed this year's inquiries to ``an anxiety in the
community about the future" under the new Bush administration, ``about
whether or not there will be an effort to lower the wall of separation
between
church and state, and an effort to push Christianity."
