Like millions of other Americans, I watched the inauguration of President George W. Bush last weekend with great interest. It has always been my feeling that the inauguration address is a telling predictor of the style and flavor of the forthcoming presidency and administration. The speeches have ranged from the profoundly inspirational (John F. Kennedy) to the stupefyingly dull (George H.W. Bush).  I was eager to see how George W. Bush would use this opportunity to reach out and bring our badly divided nation together, as he had repeatedly promised he would.

       Prior to the ceremony, there were the customary preliminaries, the introductory speeches and, of course, the opening prayer. Now, while I practice my Jewish religion openly and proudly, I am one of those First Amendment purists who believe there should be no government in religion and no religion in government. I personally disagree with prayers being recited in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and with "In God We Trust" on our money. However, I know mine is a minority view. I have adjusted to those religious incursions into our otherwise secular government, which have been inexplicably justified by the Supreme Court as being more tradition than religion.

       So, I sat quietly as the opening prayer for the inauguration was recited, waiting for Dubya to be sworn in and deliver his speech. However, I was surprised and disappointed to hear the opening prayer concluded not with a plea for God's mercy or blessing, but by references to "our Savior" "Jesus Christ" and other terms exclusive to Christianity. I would not have been offended by a prayer to God.

       I don't think any Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or other person of almost any religious persuasion would have been, either. However, the purely Christian references, in the context in which they were uttered, were provocative and divisive in nature and perhaps even in purpose.

       Our new president has made much of his wish to unite our nation. Surely, every word of the inauguration ceremony had been read, checked, scrutinized and approved by many persons before it was uttered. Did not someone in the Bush camp suggest to the prayer-giver that perhaps the prayer might be more universal in its verbiage and appeal so as not to offend large portions of the population who may not adhere to one particular religion? Was it necessary for Bush to begin his administration on such as divisive note? Contrary to the pronouncements and beliefs of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition, the United States is not a Christian nation or a nation favoring any other religion for that matter.

       Our nation was founded was to allow the unfettered exercise of all religions, regardless of their number of adherents. The drafters of our Constitution and in particular, the First Amendment, were most mindful of the oppressive effect of an official state religion (the Church of England) and sought mightily to avoid such an establishment in the United States.

       If it was deliberate that this presidential inauguration indeed had a Christian flavor, I believe that it was an effort by Bush to embrace and return to the fold the Religious Right, which was such an important part of his early campaign constituency.  Another act in that direction was his first-day-of-office order to cut off U.S. aid to any human service or foreign government agency that provides abortions, lobbies to make them legal, or tries to make legal abortion safer. This, again, appeals to and appeases the pro-life forces that helped Bush achieve the presidency.

       I find these acts to be disingenuous, both in their substance and timing, for a man who has promised to unite, not divide, our nation. The November election amply demonstrated how badly we are split as a people geographically, politically and ideologically. It is incumbent upon our new president to seek to exploit our commonalties to heal these divisions, not to exploit our differences for the sake of political gain or payback.

       The place to have commenced that sense of national togetherness was his first public appearance as president, the inauguration. A simple opening prayer to God would have served. Instead, subtly and quietly, we were reminded that the self-appointed religious majority will seek to exploit and assert its new access to the White House, and that our vigilance for the religious freedoms of others must not waver.