Religion and the Inauguration

By Ethel C. Fenig

One quick comment on the Inaugural address. Was it only me who noticed that Obama spoke of America as a nation of "Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and the non-believers", in that order? Usually it is Christians and Jews that get paired, and mentioned first. There are 2-3 times as many Jews as Muslims in America, so alphabetical order and group size do not explain Obama's order.

That indeed was an interesting order. And it certainly doesn't explain the religions of the new 111th Congress which President Barack Hussein Obama (D) will have to work with. According to the Pew Report on the religious backgrounds of members of Congress

The study finds that there is at least one major difference between Congress and the nation as a whole: Members of Congress are much more likely than the public overall to say they are affiliated with a particular religion. Only five members of the new Congress (about 1%) did not specify a religious affiliation, according to information gathered by Congressional Quarterly and the Pew Forum, and no members specifically said they were unaffiliated. By contrast, the Landscape Survey found that individuals who are not affiliated with a particular faith make up about one-sixth (16.1%) of the adult population, making this one of the largest "religious" groups in the U.S.

So this large group are not "non-believers" as Obama erroneously labeled them; they believe in something--secularism, for lack of a better word at the moment, will do. And in this country, that's fine too.

And now that the Obamas have rejected the Rev Jeremiah Wright and the United Church of Christ; a man and a church where they married, baptized their daughters, listened to twenty years of hate filled speeches before the latter was finally brought to their attention, might have to find a new religion.

How about that of the Rev Joseph Lowery who gashed his inaugural benediction with these racist identifiers

we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

Yes, President Obama, let all those who do justice and love mercy not use these words in the public arena, in public policy. If that's what you still want in your church though, well, this is America with freedom of religion. Your choice.