How dare you invoke Jesus' name!
At the end of his inaugural invocation, Franklin Graham closed with "All this we pray in the name of the Father, the Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Amen." Similarly, Kirbyjon Caldwell's benediction ended, "in the name that's above all other names, Jesus the Christ. Let all who agree say amen." USA Today says that some folks had a problem with that. "The problem with saying Jesus is that it cuts off access to the Father for Muslims, Jews and others," explains historian Martin Marty. In an op-ed piece for the Los Angeles Times, law professor Alan Dershowitz goes even further. "The plain message conveyed by the new administration is that George W. Bush's America is a Christian nation, and that non-Christians are welcome into the tent so long as they agree to accept their status as a tolerated minority rather than as fully equal citizens," Dershowitz writes. "In effect, Bush is saying: 'This is our home, and in our home we pray to Jesus as our savior. If you want to be a guest in our home, you must accept the way we pray.'" In his own defense, Caldwell tells USA Today, "It is never my intention to insult anyone who hears a public prayer that I offer! [But] I was not proselytizing, trying to make others believe like I believe. I am a Christian, I was invited by a Christian president to offer a prayer. I would have been misrepresenting who I am and arguably even why I was there had I not prayed in Jesus' name." The Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land agrees: "When we ask people to pray, we should say they are free to pray as they pray. I would be shocked if any presidential adviser had any discussion with either pastor about the content of their prayer."

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