Christian conservatives danced and dined at the inaugural this week (when were evangelicals given the right to dance?). They even managed to get together for a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church. The big names were there and The New York Times reports that Bush was:
…putting his own stamp on the event by selecting that church's pastor, the Rev. Luis Leon, to deliver the invocation at the inaugural ceremony. And he has the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, an African-American pastor of a United Methodist church in Houston who is known for Pentecostal customs like speaking in tongues, delivering the benediction. He will be serenaded during the event by a rendition of "Let the Eagle Soar," a composition by the amateur songwriter and Attorney General John Ashcroft, that praises, "only God, no other kings." He will also hear performances by the opera singer Denyce Graves, who became famous for her renditions of "The Lord's Prayer" and "America the Beautiful," and by Wintley Phipps, a well-known gospel singer. On Friday, Mr. Bush is expected to attend a service at the National Cathedral.
After a long campaign this crew was ready to get down and dirty on the dance floor.
"Maybe there is more celebratory privately sponsored activity this week in Washington than in previous years," said Gary Bauer, a former conservative Christian presidential candidate and a founder of American Values. "But I think that is in part due to an ongoing sense in the conservative Christian world that they are under attack," he said. "What is getting more pronounced every four years is the prevailing secularism among cultural and other elites.
Bauer didn’t bring cult leader Sun Myung Moon, his longtime companion, to the celebration.
Chalk-drawing pro-life Catholics, however, were there to keep the mood light and festive:
The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington-based Christian Defense Coalition, said his group planned to celebrate in part by demonstrating alongside the inaugural parade, where the group will attempt to draw chalk bodies on Pennsylvania Avenue to remind the president of aborted fetuses.
Note to death penalty supporters: The chair and injections are just way too painless a form of state-sponsored killing. Just force people to listen that John Ashcroft song one more time. Millions of Americans – guilty or not (not that guilt matters in death penalty cases) would just keel over. Problem solved. You might even be able to get Alberto Gonzales to declare the song a legal form of torture.
