EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:<\/strong> First of two columns on President Barack Obama\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\nAs Aretha Franklin finished singing \u201cMy Country, \u2018Tis of Thee,\u201d the queen of soul did what she has done for decades \u2014 she improvised.<\/p>\n
The result was a soaring bridge between the inauguration of President Barack Obama and a sermon 45 years ago at the Lincoln Memorial.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fathers\u2019 God, to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing. Long may our land be bright, with freedom\u2019s holy light, protect us by thy might,\u201d sang Franklin, before adding words that echoed some of the final cadences the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., added to his \u201cI Have A Dream\u201d address.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet freedom ring \u2026 From the red clay of Georgia, all the way to the Allegheny Mountains. \u2026 Let freedom ring.\u201d<\/p>\n
If anyone ever doubted that themes from the Civil Rights Movement have been blended into America\u2019s \u201ccivil religion,\u201d it\u2019s time for those doubts to fade.<\/p>\n
Presidential inaugurations are the \u201chigh feast days\u201d of the vague, but powerful, faith that binds together a nation of many races and creeds. To no one\u2019s surprise, religion played a major role in the rites for Obama, said Darrin M. Hanson, a political scientist at Xavier University of Louisiana.<\/p>\n
\u201cObama has a preacher\u2019s emotional style of speaking and he uses that to bring people together. It\u2019s a skill he will need in the days ahead,\u201d said Hanson, who will be analyzing the 2009 address as part of his research into the role that presidents play in America\u2019s civil religion.<\/p>\n
In this speech, Hanson said, Obama wanted to deliver a few sobering, \u201cprophetic\u201d messages as well as offer \u201cpriestly\u201d words to encourage the million-plus people on the National Mall and the millions more watching from coast to coast and worldwide.<\/p>\n
Thus, the new president told his listeners: \u201cOur economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama then used religious images \u2014 aimed at left and right \u2014 to describe bitter divisions in the body politic.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn this day,\u201d he said, \u201cwe come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.\u201d<\/p>\n
When scholars describe \u201ccivil religion,\u201d they discuss words and rituals that try to accomplish four major goals, argued Hanson, in an essay entitled \u201cThe High Priest of American Civil Religion: Continuity and Change.\u201d<\/p>\n
First, American \u201ccivil religion\u201d attempts to promote unity while accepting religious pluralism. Second, this faith must remain separate from both the state and any specific religion, he said. However, if it ever favors a particular creed, it does so in defense of fundamental human rights. Finally, this \u201ccivil religion\u201d provides unity by appealing to shared values and beliefs, acted out in common rites that are acceptable to most believers.<\/p>\n
In one passage, the new president managed to combine a number of \u201ccivil religion\u201d themes, while also evoking deep emotions at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement and his own personal pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the source of our confidence \u2014 the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny,\u201d said Obama. \u201cThis is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.\u201d<\/p>\n
The key, said Hanson, is that Obama managed to hit a few hard topics \u2014 from global terror to an economic recession \u2014 while emphasizing words of hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are trying to bring people together, you can\u2019t be too specific when you talk about the things that drive people apart,\u201d he said. \u201cInaugural addresses, and I\u2019ve read them all, are supposed to be vague \u2014 but inspiring. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, it\u2019s easier to be a priestly and successful president than it is to be a prophetic and successful president. It\u2019s hard to tell people, \u2018We have really messed up and all of us are going to have to change.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
NEXT:<\/strong> The politics of prayer, in two dramatic acts.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: First of two columns on President Barack Obama\u2019s inauguration. As Aretha Franklin finished singing \u201cMy Country, \u2018Tis of Thee,\u201d the queen of soul did what she has done for decades \u2014 she improvised. The result was a soaring bridge between the inauguration of President Barack Obama and a sermon 45 years ago at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[97,230,507,523,1544,916,925],"class_list":["post-1549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-godbeat","tag-barack-obama","tag-civil-religion","tag-liberalism","tag-mainline","tag-politics","tag-washington","tag-white-house"],"yoast_head":"\n
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