It was a beautiful celebration, but now I feel cheated. How could HBO not include the invocation? I'm sure Rick Warren will not be disrespected in this fashion! Yuck.

It was, of course, just an accident. And the fact that the only group of singers whose name wasn't shown happened to be the DC Gay Men's Choir was just a coincidence.

Of course.

Do we think that the phrase "God of our many understandings" covers the athiests in America?

It is my understanding that God (pick any God) is entirely fictitious, but in the spirit of the day (which I found quite joyful overall), I am wililng to misconstrue the Reverend's words to be all inclusive.

One more day.

It appears it was the Inaugural Committee that made the call not to include Robinson in the program televised by HBO:

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9102

"All I could think about when I read them was, 'My goodness, what does a Jew think hearing this? What does a Muslim think? What does a Sikh or a Hindu think?' Having been not included, as a gay man, in so many instances, the last thing I want to do is exclude any American from this."

His prayer certainly excludes fewer people but it's still a theistic conception of god, leaving out the nontheists. There are more nontheists in America than Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus, and Jews combined, so unfortunately Rev. Robinson did, indeed, exclude millions of Americans. It was a nice thought, and I certainly appreciate it. Here's hoping that the next effort to include everyone includes us as well. One step at a time...

Although I didn't get to see Bishop Robinson, I did get to see Bono's homage to the American Dream, ...and the European Dream, ....and the African Dream, and..........the Palestinian Dream. He looked like he was thinking over whether or not to include the last one. Anyone else see that?

It is a big step in the right direction. Sure, it didn't cover the athiests, but at least it was inclusive of other belief systems. That is huge.

why would a non-theist care about whether he or she was included in the definition of the praying body of a prayer? Once you get into anything called an opening prayer, or invocation, the speaker is speaking for that subgroup for which prayer makes sense.
The way to make this portion of a program inclusive is to call it "opening words" and embed the prayer within a general statement that is inspirational but non-theological.
For example:

"we are gathered here today to honor, to remember, to celebrate etc. Those of us who are praying people, lift up a prayer this day -- "O God of Many Understandings, etc."

The show looked like it was pretty tightly choreographed to fit a two-hour time slot, so if Robinson was added later it probably would have been difficult to fit him in without dropping one of the a-list celebs. That's the charitable interpretation, anyway. Still, it doesn't look very good.

This thing is gold (gay rights).

Is the bishop advocating corruption, as in supporting illegal migration? Tut, tut. Next thing you know you'll have Obama flashing NAMBLA priests preaching tolerance of this activity. Every vote and campaign contribution counts.

What about all the polytheists, what must they think? And the pantheists? What about the Branch Davidians, and the Scientologists? What about the severely schizophrenic, the dangerously delusional, and the single-mindedly narcissistic?

I'd settle for a brief 'moment of reason' after he's done pandering to all the myriad superstitions in the most inclusive way possible...

And may good people everywhere who agree with Robinson's goals get off their collective backsides and make them happen, instead of waiting for a non-existant deity to do it for them.

why would a non-theist care about whether he or she was included in the definition of the praying body of a prayer?
There is a good definitive answer to your question at( Atheist's prayer-JUGULAR VEIN-Jug Suraiya-Columnists Opinion-The Times of India )
It changed my perception of prayer.

Beautiful prayer. I really liked that the Right Reverend included a prayer for PE Obama as a parent.

Since the Inaugural Committee went out of their way to exclude Bishop Robinson's prayer from the broadcast (scheduling it as "pre-show" rather than the beginning of the "show" where it should have been), you won't see it on the official coverage of the festivities, but Christianity Today has footage.

And thus we have yet more confirmation that the incoming Administration won't give a shit about one of its core support bases and will instead lick the boots of rabid fundies who didn't vote for them anyway, and call it "outreach." The idea of throwing people a consolation prize entails making sure it's actually visible. That's some pretty pathetic, blatant hypocrisy right there.

Stay classy, Team Obama.

Shame on HBO for doing that - you just know that had to be deliberate. Goddamned cowards! Nice to see that it's online, I kept waiting for it throughout the concert.

I have to say, as someone who's been personally fighting this fight for the past 45 years, that seeing Pete Seeger there - the only participant there who had been there with Martin Luther King in 1963 - was truly a Great and Proud Moment, when I think of his life and what he has done and what he has fought against and for. The man is an example to all.

As I posted elsewhere, paraphrasing President-elect Obama's statement in election night:

"For those who doubt who won the election of 2008, Pete Seeger leading over 100,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in singing ALL the verses of This Land is Your Land (including most especially the "subversive" ones) is your answer!"

Those verses haven't been sung in public for 60 years. Like Bruce Springsteen said, it really is "the best song about our home." As my Lithuanian-nationalist SWMBO said, it was like hearing the Lithuanian national anthem sung in public in 1990.

I don't know if anyone knew this, but the reason Pete didn't sing along was because he's so deaf he actually couldn't hear what happened. But he was there!! And so were we.

A minor correction to post #2:

Our correct name is the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC, not Choir.

And it should be pointed out that none of the choruses or choirs that performed onstage were named, so the "slight" was not just to us.

As a member of the Gay Men's Chorus of DC for 20 years, I was so proud to be onstage, whether or not we were named. We knew we were there, and we received a tremendous and gratifying reception from the audience, the organizers, and the other performing acts on the show.

"Is the bishop advocating corruption,..."

No. Next question.

Thank Gaia HBO didn't broadcast yet another boring prayer. Tried to watch it, but fell asleep after about 5 seconds, just like I used to when my mother made me go to church.

If their heaven is as boring as their church, hell, here I come. (Actually, my hell probably would be going to their heaven. Who said that? That we'll all go to heaven, but it will seem like hell to some of us?)

It wasn't a mistake. The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) scheduled Robinson for 2:25 in the "pre-show" and the HBO televised portion was scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Not a mistake and I do not accept Josh Earnest's apology. I'm straight, and feel that we all need to care about this.

I think it is very rude that they didn't include his speech, the Obama's had me on their side, I hate that they did this, they no longer have my full trust! I was waiting for this speech for a loooooong time!!