The National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event in Washigton’s Hilton Hotel, has its origins in a prayer breakfast organized by Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant for businessmen (they were all men) in Seattle in the 1930s. In 1953, President Eisenhower, encouraged by Vereide and Billy Graham, agreed to sponsor a Presidential Prayer Breakfast, which touted American faith against the atheist Soviet Union.
The event now has become both a sounding board for restrictionist and partisan politics, not to mention Christian nationalism. It is an affront to the ideals of our Nation which embodies the separation of church and state in our Constitution. Americans are a people with many faith and belief systems, not just a limited and narrow vision of Christianity.
At the Thursday event, immigrants were attacked as threatening churchgoers although several studies show that immigrants have a higher adherence to religious institutions. In addition, people were mocked for praying at mealtimes by the man who claims he supports Christian values. Not to be outdone, our new national theologian, the Secretary of War, told us that soldiers who died for this Christian nation are assured of salvation. What happened to the First Amendment?
Prayer for the Day
Decrying corruption of your word, O God,
The prophets berated rulers who betrayed you;
Lone voices in the wilderness of hypocrisy,
They called for justice and righteousness.
Save us, O Lord, from those who narrow your grace,
For we know your righteousness extends to all.
In the name of the One who confronted falsehood,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
There’s still plenty of people who have this deep conviction that America is a Christian country and ought to say so in is Constitution, etc. But that’s not the legal basis o which we’re framed. So the flourishing of religion, of religious diversity, is really built into who we are.
Diana L. Eck, Harvard Divinity School
I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Danbury Baptist Church (Jan. 1, 1802)
And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people.
Jesus in Matthew 6:5