Calif. evangelist to give inaugural invocation

By Katharine Q. Seelye

updated 8:56 a.m. ET Dec. 18, 2008

Barack Obama has selected the Rev. Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor and author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, a role that positions Mr. Warren to succeed Billy Graham as the nation’s pre-eminent minister and reflects the generational changes in the evangelical Christian movement.

In a departure from past inaugurations, which usually feature operatic soloists, Aretha Franklin will perform. A quartet that includes Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma will play a piece composed for the inauguration by John Williams, whose “Patriot” resounded during Mr. Obama’s election night celebration in Grant Park in Chicago.

Mr. Obama’s inauguration program, for Jan. 20, was announced Wednesday by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Celebrations.

Inauguration programs follow a traditional outline but also allow a president-elect to put his stamp on the proceedings and set the tone for his administration.

The choice of Mr. Warren, pastor of a megachurch in Orange County, Calif., is an olive branch to conservative Christian evangelicals. Mr. Warren is an outspoken opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage — litmus-test issues for Christian conservatives. In fact, his selection set off a round of criticism by gay rights groups angered by his support for California’s ban on same-sex marriages.

But Mr. Warren has also been one of the most prominent evangelical leaders calling for Christians to expand their agenda and confront global problems like poverty, AIDS, climate change and genocide in Darfur.

Mr. Warren flaunted his clout this year when he managed to draw both John McCain and Barack Obama to his Saddleback Church for a forum in which he interviewed them on stage about faith issues. He has sometimes angered the older generation of conservative evangelical leaders aligned with the Republican Party, as when he invited Mr. Obama to speak about AIDS at an earlier event at his church.

Following Mr. Warren will be Ms. Franklin, who grew up singing gospel music before turning to soul and pop. She sang at Bill Clinton’s inauguration concert in 1993 (“Someday We’ll All Be Free” and “Respect”) but not at the inauguration ceremony itself.

Next, Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be sworn in by Justice John Paul Stevens.

Then the new work by Mr. Williams will be played by a classical devotee’s fantasy quartet: Mr. Perlman on violin, Mr. Ma on cello, Gabriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will administer the oath of office to Mr. Obama, who will then deliver his inaugural address.

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A poetry reading will follow by Elizabeth Alexander, who teaches African-American studies at Yale and is only the fourth poet to read at an inauguration. (The others were Robert Frost in 1961, Maya Angelou in 1993, and Miller Williams in 1997.)

Mr. Obama has asked the Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, co-founder with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to deliver the benediction.

The ceremony will close with the Sea Chanters of the United States Navy Band singing the National Anthem.

Laurie Goodstein contributed reporting.

This article, "Obama Selects California Evangelist for Invocation at His Inauguration," originally appeared in The New York Times.

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