I'll be summarizing this article from the New York Times.
Ten years ago, a mass prayer ceremony with many different religions represented was held in the Yankee Stadium on the second Sunday after the 9/11 attacks. This past weekend, a secular commemoration service was held at Ground Zero, and in the planning of Mayor Bloomberg faced harsh criticism from a few religions - mostly evangelicals. Similarly, a service without an evangelical cleric was held at the Washington National Cathedral; this general lack of "equal representation" is being referred to as the loss of "civil religion," a phrase coined to describe the generalized way the American government once looked at the sacred.
Mayor Bloomberg defended his decision in saying that the moments of silence allotted throughout the commemoration service he believes are often used for personal prayer, and his point was further supported by the lack of opinion from the Archbishop of New York, Timothy M. Dolan, and the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, Joseph Potasnik. In spite of this, Fox News and an evident divide among Protestants still criticize, even when religious leaders are present at such events.
(Well, you can't please everyone.)
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