But .. IT'S NOT A GOVERNMENT FUNCTION and IT'S NOT BEING HELD IN A GOVERNMENT BUILDING.
I know--I was just being sarcastic. I betcha the leftists will complain though since tax dollars are being used. They complained about President Bush's inauguration I remember. Wasn't Franklin Graham there saying a prayer and referring to Jesus? That really chapped their hides. Seems like Dershowitz complained along with some others. Plus I found this:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The atheist who persuaded a federal appeals court to strike down the Pledge of Allegiance because of the words "under God" lost a bid Monday to abolish prayer at presidential inaugurations.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Michael Newdow did not suffer "a sufficiently concrete and specific injury" to pursue his latest claim.
Newdow is both an emergency room physician and a lawyer and has represented himself in the two legal actions.
Newdow argued that the Rev. Franklin Graham's prayer at President Bush's 2001 inauguration was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. He said the practice of clergy-led prayer at presidential inaugurations did not begin until Franklin D. Roosevelt's second inauguration in 1937.
In 2002, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit agreed with Newdow that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional when recited in public schools. The Supreme Court will hear the case next month.
Newdow challenged the pledge on behalf of his daughter, now 9, claiming she was wrongly being exposed to religion in public school.
The Sacramento man said he was unsure whether he would ask the high court to hear his challenge of inaugural prayer.
"I got other things on my mind at the moment," he said, referring to the pledge case, which Newdow himself will argue.