Jim Wallis reflects on today’s National Prayer Service, arguing that there has been a shift in the role of religion:
The day after the inauguration, I will be joining with Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Christian leaders at the National Prayer Service for our new president. Each of us will look different, sound different and hold different beliefs, but each of us will humbly offer words of hope and blessing for our country and its leaders. Pastors and their place in the inaugural ceremonies have made quite a stir over the past few weeks. Questions have been raised about beliefs, politics, symbolism and representation. People on both sides of the aisle have been elated and enraged. The media, for the most part, has framed it as a left vs. right, conservative vs. liberal struggle and has been quick to call winners and losers.
What this controversy has revealed and will soon become more clear is that the same old categories just don’t fit anymore. No matter all of the differences that the religious leaders assembled might have with one another, there is a common ground that has brought us all together. This common ground is the common good—for our country and our world.
A very new and, yet, very old role for religion is now emerging—the defense of the poor and vulnerable. A new generation of believers and trailblazing religious leaders are making sure that the agenda of the faith community is broader and deeper than it has been for several decades. Like the religious leaders for the inauguration, we don’t all agree but we have found place where we can stand together.
Continue reading in the Huffington Post.