AS ERASMUS has remarked before, there are countries (like England and Denmark) which have state churches but relatively little religious input in public policy; and there are other democracies, like America, which formally bar the establishment of any faith but nonetheless have a powerful "civil religion" which somehow invests important national events with an air of the transcendent. Presidential inaugurations are a locus of that generic form of faith.
That's why a president-elect's choice of clerics to say prayers at the inauguration is watched carefully. An incoming head of state can use the selection to send signals and set a new ideological and moral tone. The new incumbent can reward spiritual figures, and constituencies, who have served as political allies, and offer an olive branch to religious and social groups that view the election result with dismay. The latter tactic is a risky one. When, in 2009, Barack Obama offered a slot to Rick Warren, a preacher and best-selling author with conservative views on homosexuality, both men drew opprobrium from their respective constituencies.
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