Inaugural benediction flap prompts question: 'Who can pray for the nation?'

But public sentiment and politics over same-sex marriage have changed in the past four years.

Obama was an opponent of gay marriage in 2008, noted the The Washington Post, which cited its own poll showing that between 2006 and 2012, the percentage of all Americans who support same-sex marriage has climbed from 36 to 53.

"The quick pullback of Giglio, to some, signaled a tipping point," the Post reported. “The whole subtext behind this is the dramatic ways in which the whole conversation and public sentiment have changed over the last decade on this very issue,” said Randall Balmer, a historian of American religion at Dartmouth College."

Ross Murray, director of religion, faith and values for the gay activists group GLADD, blogged on Huffington Post that there are plenty of faith leaders without an anti-gay bias, and he offered a long list for the administration to consider.

But Pastor Joel Hunter, a spiritual adviser to Obama and a Florida megachurch leader, told Religion News Service that Giglio was a good choice for the inaugural benediction and blamed the media for whipping up the controversy.

“Some of us are trying to follow scripture, but in no way want to discriminate against or demean someone with a different sexual orientation,” he said. “What gets reported, though, is only when we’re trying to articulate what scripture says.”