"Did you feel touched -- in agreement or annoyance -- by the Native American blessing that preceded President Obama's address at the memorial last night at the University of Arizona?
It was a lengthy traditional blessing given by an associate professor of medicine at the University, Carlos Gonzales, a Pascua Yaqui Indian and fifth generation Arizonan.
Then Gonzales verbally walks the audience around the four "doors" to wisdom, spirit, visions and energy and guidance -- passages mocked immediately by conservative commentators such as Brit Hume on Fox News who called it "peculiar."
In the eight-minute long blessing, Gonzales speaks of Father Sky and Mother Earth and he added some personal asides. While the blessing largely focused on the Tucson shooting victims, their loved ones and all Americans, Gonzales also asks for an additional blessing for all the creatures of the world, for his son in Afghanistan. and for "all my relations.""
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Faith & Reason Blog: Did Arizona memorial service Native American blessing touch you?
(USA Today 1/13)
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