Missing from the Inaugural Dais: Rabbis and Priests
Inauguration audiences on Tuesday will hear the new President deliver the most anticipated Inaugural Address since John F. Kennedy. They'll hear the Queen of Soul sing and Yo-Yo Ma play. They'll listen to hear if Rick Warren gets preachy when he prays. But there's one thing they won't hear: Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam.
That's because for the sixth straight presidential Inauguration, rabbis won't have a place on the dais. And the Jewish faith isn't the only religious tradition that continues to be snubbed. Since 1985, only Evangelical Protestants have played a part in the swearing-in ceremony. That will continue again this year when megachurch pastor Warren delivers the invocation and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, an African-American Evangelical, offers the benediction. At a time when the United States is more religiously diverse than at any other point in its history, and Obama's entire...