Obama and the church

THE Rt Revd Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire, who is openly gay, has been invited at a late stage to take part in President-elect Obama’s inauguration celebrations. The invitation comes a month after it was announced that the Revd Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, an Evangelical megachurch in California, would give the invocation at the swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.

In an earlier interview, Bishop Robinson described the choice of the conservative Evangelical Mr Warren as “a slap in the face”, but denies that his invitation to take part is as a balance to Mr Warren. Bishop Robinson will give the invocation at the opening event of the inaugura tion celebrations at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Sunday, which will include performances from the singers Bruce Springsteen and Bono.

Responding to the invitation, he said it would be “an enormous honour to offer prayers for the country and the new President, standing on the holy ground where the ‘I have a dream’ speech was delivered by Dr King. . . It will be my great honour to be there represent ing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.”

Bishop Robinson said he was “very clear” that what he would say at the event “would not be a Chris­tian prayer, and I won’t be quoting scripture or anything like that. The texts that I hold as sacred are not sacred texts for all Americans, and I want all people to feel that this is their prayer.”

He said he might address the prayer to “the God of our many understandings” — language that he said he learned from the 12-step programme he attended for his alcohol addiction.

Jim Naughton, Canon for Communications and Advancement in the Episcopal diocese of Washington, said it seemed likely that Bishop Robinson’s appointment was an attempt to even things up.

“It sure looks that way, even though [the Obama team] denies it. I do think that the noise that was made after Rick Warren was initially chosen has made this happen. But Gene Robinson has been on Obama’s radar for at least a year, after the Bishop endorsed his campaign. And they do have a real relationship.”