Is it possible that a new president can change the nation’s focus from partisan politics and division with as simple an act as an interfaith prayer service? The Wall Street Journal wrote about the inauguration service and its interfaith focus, which seemed to lack only a Buddhist representative. Read the full story here.
Listening to President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech, people could hear references to people of faith and those of no faith. Despite being predominantly Christian, there was a mention other faiths that hasn’t been present in speeches past.
Today Obama began his first full day as president with a prayer service. Read the New York Time’s story here
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Do you think that the president’s choice to include multiple faiths in his inauguration ceremonies will set a tone for the nation? Will other countries see that America is willing to accept beliefs other than Christianity?
I appreciated President Obama’s approach to the issue of religion. He not only made reference to a higher power, or “God,” but he also extended that sense of unity to those who did not believe. I believe it is very responsible politics, and it was conducted in a manner that managed to unite as well as minimize isolation. I believe that for those countries-whose governments will not censor President Obama’s speech-they will see above all a prevailing sentiment of the United States: Unity.