No clergy at 9/11 memorials? No problem. Religion, in particular of the Judeo-Christian variety, infused the day, despite what many feared.
President Obama read Psalm 46 at Ground Zero in the morning – a passage he and others before him have favored – and cited Psalm 30 in his remarks at an evening memorial.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani cited Ecclesiastes (and The Byrds) and former President George W. Bush read from a letter written by Abraham Lincoln to a mother who lost five sons during the Civil War:
“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”
Some critics of current New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s decision not to include clergy took notice. “Prayer Permeates 9/11 Event, Despite Bloomberg Ban,” headlined a release from Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice.
And there was plenty of faith at houses of worship this Sunday.
Got ‘closure’ now that 9/11 is over? If not, don’t worry. Closure is a myth — but alas, it sells. Of course.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, may be looking for some closure – reports say he is going to retire next year. And who could blame him, after all the Anglican Communion has gone through in recent years.
Some reports say Williams, a brilliant scholar and spiritual writer whose political skills have been much criticized, is retiring “a decade early.” He is 61 and the mandatory retirement age for Anglican bishops is 70. But he will have been on the job for nearly a decade, which is pretty standard for Archbishops of Canterbury these days.
And beats going out like Becket, in the film version above.
Tim Pawlenty was once considered the great evangelical hope for the Republican presidential race, until his lack of most everything except faith doomed his campaign. Now he’s endorsing Mitt Romney, one of two Mormons in the field – and a candidate who also has issues with authenticity.
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson broke some bones but will be okay after falling off his horse over the weekend. And no references to Saint Paul, as the New Testament actually never says he fell from a horse at the moment of conversion.
The Irene-delayed dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial will now take place on October 16.
Another Oregon couple is to go on trial for the faith-healing death of their child, and police in Arizona say a church is in fact a house of prostitution. Phoenix detectives made arrests after a six-month undercover investigation. They could have indicted them on the name alone: The Phoenix Goddess Temple.
— David Gibson
