NewsMax reported that Franklin Graham, son of Billy, was scheduled to give the invocation at the first inauguration of George W. Bush. A Methodist pastor, the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, took Graham aside and asked privately if he was going to pray in the name of Jesus. “Yes,” he assured him, “I always do.”

He prayed, “Now, O Lord, we dedicate this presidential inaugural ceremony to you. May this be the beginning of a new dawn for America as we humble ourselves before you and acknowledge you alone as our Lord, our Savior, and our Redeemer. We pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

What followed, according to NewsMax, was “a storm of controversy. The invocation drew protests from some quarters, with one atheist filing a lawsuit against President Bush alleging he had turned the inaugeration into a quasi-religious event.”

I don’t know that Graham was invited to pray at the second inaugural of President Bush.