The current trend of U.S. political leaders closing their speeches with "God bless America" seems to me to be dismissive of those who don't believe in God and to uncomfortably mix church and state. And I call myself a practicing Christian.
If politicos feel the need to close with some sort of wish for the greater good, how about "May we all always be our best selves, for the sake of one another, the sake of our nation, and the sake of our world"?
God religion atheists benediction separation of church and state EditorMom
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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3 comments:
Interesting that you post this - I was just discussing the same point with my older daughter yesterday. We didn't really come to any conclusion, but still. I thought there was supposed to be separation of church and state and all the invocations and prayers were a bit too much for me. And I am a God-believing person.
Katherine, you might enjoy reading the text of the invocation delivered by the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson at the "We Are One" celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.
The Obama inaugural staff shamefully excluded it from the HBO coverage, and the sound system at the event didn't permit the crowd there to hear it well, but it deserves to be read and fully enjoyed.
Best wishes,
d'Scribe
(a mom of 3 and a programmer/writer)
Ha. I thought I saw somewhere on Jim Fallow's Atlantic blog (he has complained repeatedly about the lameness of the "God bless America" signoff) that Obama had ended a recent pre-inaugural speech by intoning, in the exact GBA voice, "I love you guys." I like that one. I can't find this on Jim's blog anymore, though.
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