Was Gene Robinson's Prayer Really Censored by HBO?

I was ready to hear Bishop Gene Robinson's prayer today (transcript below), but now I am praying that HBO really did not truly censor Gene out because he's gay and his selection was controversial. I thought I had missed it between switching channels but now I've learned that HBO simply did not include it. No one saw it on HBO.

Some bloggers are calling it censoring, but I'm reserving judgment until we hear HBO's response. Now I understand there was a 10 minute break between Robinson and when HBO started their programming, so maybe it was logistical and not intentional. But it seems suspicious.

If HBO really did censor Robinson, then we are clearly NOT the America that was represented on screen for the rest of the concert celebration. The program theme was "We are One" and Obama's overall theme for inauguration events is "Renewing America's Promise." What we saw on stage was a lot of diverity of many kinds -- racial, musical, gender, age, even multinational (e.g., Bono from Ireland, Shakira from Columbia), and we also saw the Washington DC Gay Men's Chorus. If I had to capture the music and short speeches in words, I'd say it was all about the strength of our diversity and our ideals of equality -- that anyone can be what they want to be in this great nation. How fitting that this celebration will affirm and recognize another man, like Obama, who broke another power barrier by become the first openly gay Bishop. Robinson's own beautiful references to the virtues of anger against discrimination and related injustices, freedom from mere tolerance, and realizing Martin Luther King's dream for ALL people completely fit into the entire spirit of the event. And I'm glad he asked Obama to "remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims." These were words of moral courage, calling us all to a higher purpose.

If HBO censored this, then we need to question if they stand for the American ideals of diversity and equality that was paraded on the stage today. Did the overall theme of the event escape the executives at HBO? I look forward to hearing their justification. If their censorship is confirmed, we will be justified in our outrage in this decidedly un-American act of censorship. I can only pray that the American people will denounce any censorship if it occured and see the irony of censoring a person who is so emblematic of real change and progress in America --another truly courageous, admirable American. And I pray that the ensuing outrage will allow TV stations everywhere to broadcast the entire prayer for even more Americans to hear, again and again, in not only their living rooms, but in their hearts. And now... for Gene...

Gene Robinson's Invocation at "We are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial"
January 18, 2009

"Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in
pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next
president.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist
on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and
raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition,
malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and
abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy,
simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of
the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going
to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and
the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the
understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must
always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from
mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our
differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every
religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human
community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you
thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the
United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with
Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist
our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm
captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be
inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to
facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his
own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states,
but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a
minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to
change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the
strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though
he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our
presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and
his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to
keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we
have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and
that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity,
prosperity and peace.

AMEN."