{"id":1563,"date":"2013-02-15T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/02\/presidents-as-pastors-in-chief-an-update-on-religion-in-inaugural-addresses.html"},"modified":"2013-02-15T16:03:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T16:03:00","slug":"presidents-as-pastors-in-chief-an-update-on-religion-in-inaugural-addresses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/02\/presidents-as-pastors-in-chief-an-update-on-religion-in-inaugural-addresses.html","title":{"rendered":"Presidents as Pastors in Chief: An Update on Religion in Inaugural Addresses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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It did not receive much attention on Monday, January 21 during President Obama\u2019s second inauguration, but some were alarmed when the reporter at the private pre-inaugural worship service at St. John\u2019s Episcopal Church noted that Rev. Andy Stanley, who gave the sermon, referred to the President as \u201cPastor in Chief.\u201d In an interview with\u00a0Christianity Today<\/i>\u00a0several days after the inauguration, Stanley said his remark had been taken out of context by some reporters, clarifying that it had come from being impressed by the President\u2019s visit with families after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Stanley had said, \u201cMr. President, I don\u2019t know the first thing about being President, but I know a bit about being a pastor. And during the Newtown vigil on December 16th after we heard what you did\u2014I just want to say on behalf of all of us as clergy, thank you.\u201d And added, \u201cI turned to Sandra [Stanley\u2019s wife] that night and said, \u2018Tonight he\u2019s the Pastor in Chief.'\u201d Other commentators also referred to President Obama as pastor in chief after being moved by his separate visits with each family who lost a child and by his speech to those gathered in mourning.<\/span><\/div>\n
Later on Monday, President Obama\u2019s inaugural address did even more to cast him as Pastor in Chief with his use of religious language and themes. He used the word \u201cGod\u201d five times (and twice more with \u201cHis\u201d and \u201cHe\u201d), which is just short of Reagan\u2019s record of eight in 1985. Obama also mentioned \u201cour creed\u201d five times, giving the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence significance as a kind of civil religion. Finally, he ended by saying, \u201cThank you, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It did not receive much attention on Monday, January 21 during President Obama\u2019s second inauguration, but some were alarmed when the reporter at the private pre-inaugural worship service at St. John\u2019s Episcopal Church noted that Rev. Andy Stanley, who gave the sermon, referred to the President as \u201cPastor in Chief.\u201d In an interview with\u00a0Christianity Today\u00a0several […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPresidents as Pastors in Chief: An Update on Religion in Inaugural Addresses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It did not receive much attention on Monday, January 21 during President Obama\u2019s second inauguration, but some were alarmed when the reporter at the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/02\/presidents-as-pastors-in-chief-an-update-on-religion-in-inaugural-addresses.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presidents as Pastors in Chief: An Update on Religion in Inaugural Addresses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It did not receive much attention on Monday, January 21 during President Obama\u2019s second inauguration, but some were alarmed when the reporter at the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/02\/presidents-as-pastors-in-chief-an-update-on-religion-in-inaugural-addresses.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-15T16:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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