The Name They Tried To Suppress

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Houston's Windsor Village United
Methodist Church, capped the second inauguration of President George W.
Bush with a prayer that the atheists represented by Michael Newdow tried to
suppress. They knew that Rev. Caldwell would pray, as in the first
inauguration of the President, "in the name that is above all other names,
Jesus the Christ." Rev. Caldwell did so yesterday, as a man who believes
in the supremacy and sovereignty of his God. Atheists would have the
individual be subservient to the state, so much so that the individual
should suppress his own expression of faith in deference to the state. The
atheists claim that this is American tradition, the so-called separation of
Church and State. Nothing could be more un-American than the subservience
of the individual to the state. Reverend Caldwell's God is the God who
defers to no one, and God does not expect His servant and spokesman to be
silent about the "Name that is above all other names" in subservience to
men. The prayer of Reverend Caldwell at the inauguration of the President
of the United States is pure liberty. The individual exercised his
God-given right of religious expression and called out to God, invoking His
name over the head of state who was duly elected by a people of diverse
beliefs, over the objections of a vocal minority who don't believe in God
anyway.