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At past inaugurations,ceremonial prayers uttered on behalf of the incoming president drew about as much attention as the flags on the podium.Not this year. Barack Obama's choice of clergy is under scrutiny like no other president-elect before him, alternately outraging Americans on the left and the right as he navigates the minefield of U.S. religion."I can't recall any prayers drawing so much attention," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center who specializes in religion in public life.Gay advocates assailed Obama, while many conservative Christians were heartened, when he invited the Rev. Rick Warren, a Southern Baptist who opposes gay marriage, to deliver the inaugural invocation on Tuesday.The tables turned when Obama asked V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, to lead prayers at Sunday's kickoff for the inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial. Gay rights groups rejoiced, while some conservative Christians wrung their hands.The Inauguration Committee has only released one clergy name so far for the Jan. 21 National Prayer Service that caps the inauguration. The Rev. Sharon Watkins, the first woman president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a Protestant group, will deliver the sermon.The Associated Press has learned additional details.A prayer will be offered at the National Cathedral by Ingrid Mattson, the first woman president of the Islamic Society of North America, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. The Islamic Society, based in Indiana, is the nation's largest Muslim group.Three rabbis, representing the three major branches of American Judaism, will also say a prayer at the service, according to officials familiar with the plans. The Jewish clergy are Reform Rabbi David Saperstein, Conservative Rabbi Jerome Epstein and Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, sources said.It is also traditional for the incoming administration to ask the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington to lead a prayer. The Most Rev. Donald Wuerl leads the archdiocese.And like many incoming presidents before him, Obama will attend a service at St. John's Church, dubbed the "Church of the Presidents," before his swearing-in.Religion has been a lightning rod for Obama since the presidential campaign — from false rumors that he is Muslim to uproar over sermons by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.And interest in the inauguration is higher overall, partly because of its historic nature, the swearing-in of the first African-American president. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, a Methodist considered the dean of the civil rights movement, will give the inaugural benediction.But Obama's choice of clergy is also of greater interest because of the changing landscape of American religion.The United States is more diverse than ever before, and members of minority faiths yearn to be recognized as fully American."In the past, minority groups within Christianity and minority religions on the American scene were not as vocal or as sure-footed and therefore didn't pay as much attention to the inauguration event itself or didn't feel the need to. That's no longer true," said Rabbi James Rudin, who spent three decades leading interreligious outreach for the American Jewish Committee....By Rachel Zoll
AP Religion Writer
AP Religion Writer
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