ATLANTA – The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced on January 8th that the Rev. Louie Giglio had been selected to deliver the benediction at the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony of President Obama and Vice President Biden on Monday, January 21.
The President had said “Vice President Biden and I are honored that Rev. Louie Giglio will participate in the Inaugural ceremony.”
The Reverend Louie Giglio is the pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and the founder of Passion Conferences, a movement gathering college-aged young people since 1997 in events across the country and around the world.
Now, the pastor from Atlanta is out after audio of an anti-gay sermon surfaced. Giglio said on Thursday that “after conversations between our team and the White House I am no longer serving in that role.”
I am honored to be invited by the President to give the benediction at the upcoming inaugural on January 21. Though the President and I do not agree on every issue, we have fashioned a friendship around common goals and ideals, most notably, ending slavery in all its forms.
Due to a message of mine that has surfaced from 15-20 years ago, it is likely that my participation, and the prayer I would offer, will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration. Clearly, speaking on this issue has not been in the range of my priorities in the past fifteen years. Instead, my aim has been to call people to ultimate significance as we make much of Jesus Christ.
Neither I, nor our team, feel it best serves the core message and goals we are seeking to accomplish to be in a fight on an issue not of our choosing, thus I respectfully withdraw my acceptance of the President’s invitation. I will continue to pray regularly for the President, and urge the nation to do so. I will most certainly pray for him on Inauguration Day.
Giglio also said “the issue of homosexuality (which a particular message of mine some 20 years ago addressed) is one of the most difficult our nation will navigate. However, individuals’ rights of freedom, and the collective right to hold differing views on any subject is a critical balance we, as a people, must recover and preserve.”
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