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Steven Waldman

Let Us Pray: Almighty God, Our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of You alone. It all comes from You, it all belongs to You, it all exists for Your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, ‘Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is…

On Monday, I visited with Gene Robinson at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, the day after his historic prayer opening the inaugural ceremonies. We’ll have video later but I wanted to quickly get up some of the highlights of what I found a fascinating interview (conducted with our partners at The Wall Street Journal): What a…

Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal church, gave the opening prayer at the beginning of the inaugural festivities at the Lincoln Memorial. Below is the transcript and a YouTube video In the next day I’ll also be posting an interesting interview I had with Robinson Monday, in which he discussed what…

As I’ve been foraging through the history of inaugural prayers, one question has remained a mystery: why, in 1937, did Franklin Roosevelt start the tradition? Professor Mark Silk has come up with an interesting and plausible theory. Prior to 1937, the vice presidents were sworn in by their predecessor in the Senate chamber. A prayer…

My rabbi, Serge Lippe, sent this prayer, written by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman of Kol HaNeshama, Jerusalem. He suggests reading it churches, mosques, or synagogues: If there has ever been a place forsaken, Gaza is that place. Lord who is the creator of all children, hear our prayer this accursed day. God whom we call Blessed,…

Tony Jones of New Christians ponders why the selection of Gene Robinson has gotten so much less press coverage than the pick of Rick Warren. He speculates that it’s because gay groups put pressure on the media. http://blog.beliefnet.com/tonyjones/2009/01/rick-warren-vs-gene-robinson.html That’s probably partly true. The press reacts to ruckus. Gay groups made one. Strangely, conservative groups have…

In 1949, the year of Harry S. Truman’s inauguration ceremony, America was a much less tolerant and diverse place. It would be another decade before Americans would be comfortable electing a Catholic president. Jews were still excluded from the upper echelons of government and business. The levers of power were held by Protestants, who made…

This just in from the inaugural committee: The full lineup of clergy at Wednesday prayer service at the National Cathedral (which will stream it live, by the way.) Nineteen participants. They surely have covered all the bases now! Actually, the funny thing is that the longer the list becomes, the more embarrassing it is when…

This search engine helps you find service projects for Martin Luther King Day Click here to sign a new Declaration of Service, and (if you want) pledge charitable or social action in the coming year: WE BELIEVE in the ideals that define America: liberty, equality, and justice. WE BELIEVE the idea of America is ennobled,…

Jay Sekulow, one of the leading conservative constitutional laywers in the country (and a Beliefnet blogger) was back at the Supreme Court this week fighting Michael Newdow’s attempts to block prayers at the inauguration. Sekulow notes that George Washington in his inaugural address asked for Divine support: “The fact is that references to God at…
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