wfn.org | LWI 2009-004 Barack Obama's Inauguration Is a Landmark Transformative Event Globally

["LWFNews" <LWFNews@lutheranworld.org>]

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Barack Obama's Inauguration Is a Landmark Transformative Event
Globally 
LWF General Secretary Congratulates 44th President of the USA

(Embargoed until Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 11:30 a.m. EST)

GENEVA, 20 January 2009 (LWI) – Congratulating President Barack
Hussein Obama on his inauguration today as the 44th President of
the United States of America, the General Secretary of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko describes
this occasion as a landmark of the beginning of the 21st century,
and a transformative event for the whole world.

In a statement released today, (embargoed until the
inauguration) the general secretary compares Obama's induction
into office to that of former South African President Nelson
Mandela, who although mandated for presidency by his people,
assumed a global role, becoming "everyone's president." 

"Obama's inauguration is, for the USA and for the world, a
similarly transformative event," says Noko. It sends the clearest
possible message of the American people's willingness "to be
challenged and to challenge the politics of racial and other
forms of division. It calls for the creation of a true union of
all US citizens. It also invites all of us around the world to
examine our own contexts and to do the same," he adds.

He notes that Obama's election raised a tidal wave of hope
around the world after a period in which the USA and much of the
rest of the world became estranged from each other, and against
the background of an economic and humanitarian crisis. "Today,
with his inauguration, the weight of all those hopes and
expectations falls heavily on his shoulders," says Noko. 

He joins many other religious leaders in the USA and around the
world in praying that the new president will be given the wisdom
and strength to bear the burden of so much hope toward the goals
of justice and dignity that he has so powerfully articulated at
home and globally. (316 words)

The full text of Dr Noko’s statement is on the LWF Web site at:

www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF_Statement_Obama_Inauguration.pdf

>*        *          *

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