For inauguration prayer, Obama splits ticket

Check out this article from Associated Press. Thanks to Scrapsister Kerryn for the lead.

Here is a start:

The clergy chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to pray at his inauguration fill separate symbolic roles: One is a nod to the civil rights activists who made Obama's election possible. The other is an overture to conservative Christians who rankles some Obama supporters.

The Rev. Rick Warren, who will give the invocation, is the most influential pastor in the United States, and a choice that has already caused problems for Obama.
Warren is a Southern Baptist who holds traditional religious beliefs and endorsed California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage. But he also wants to broaden the evangelical agenda to include fighting global warming, poverty and AIDS.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, 87, is considered the dean of the civil rights movement. For the benediction at the Jan. 20 swearing-in, he says he will pray that the "spirit of fellowship and oneness" at the inauguration endures throughout Obama's presidency.
"He gets a lot with these choices," said David Domke, author of "The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America."
"Here's a guy who wants to run a progressive administration .....

You can read the rest here.

I really like this bit:

With Warren, "Obama shows he is willing to work with a new breed of evangelical and kind of move beyond the tired figures associated with the religious right," said Randall Balmer, a Barnard College professor of religious history and author of "God in the White House."

"A new breed".... now there is just another post to be developed!!

PS - "Well done, Rick Warren! Love your work!"