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President Trump addresses 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast

Feb 6, 2020

By Dave Andrusko

This morning President Trump addressed the 68th National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering of faith leaders from around the nation at which the President always speaks. Some 3,500 people “gave Trump rousing, extensive applause,” the Washington Post reported in a highly critical account of the President’s 20-minute address.

For context, veteran pro-lifers remember 1994.  Mother Teresa delivered a no-hold-barred pro-life speech at the National Prayer Breakfast with pro-abortion President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper Gore sharing the dais.

I was not there but Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan was. She wrote this about what happened when Mother Teresa completed her speech:  

Well, silence. Cool deep silence in the cool round cavern for just about 1.3 seconds. And then applause started on the right hand side of the room, and spread, and deepened, and now the room was swept with people applauding, and they would not stop for what I believe was five or six minutes. As they clapped they began to stand, in another wave from the right of the room to the center and the left.

But not everyone applauded. The president and first lady, seated within a few feet of Mother Teresa on the dais, were not applauding. Nor were the vice president and Mrs. Gore. They looked like seated statues at Madame Tussaud’s. They glistened in the lights and moved not a muscle, looking at the speaker in a determinedly semi-pleasant way.

With regard to abortion, President Trump could have been referencing either his State of the Union Address or his remarks to the March for Life when he said, “We are upholding the sanctity of life — sanctity of life.  (Applause.)  And we are doing that like nobody has ever done it before from this position.”

The theme of today’s Prayer Breakfast was religious persecution. Here are some of the assurances the President gave his audience:

As I said on Tuesday in the House Chamber [in his third State of the Union Address], “In America, we don’t punish prayer.  We don’t tear down crosses.  We don’t ban symbols of faith.  We don’t muzzle preachers.”  We don’t muzzle pastors.  “In America, we celebrate faith, we cherish religion, we lift our voices in prayer, and we raise our sights to the Glory of God.”  (Applause.)

So much of the greatness we have achieved, the mysteries we’ve unlocked, and the wonders we’ve built, the challenges we’ve met, and the incredible heights that we’ve reached has come from the faith of our families and the prayers of our people.

        ……

Yesterday, our administration launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance, the first-ever alliance devoted to promoting religious liberty.  It was something.  Really something.  (Applause.)

More than 25 countries have already joined our campaign.  I want to thank Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, along with Ambassador Sam Brownback, who are both here this morning, for leading this historic initiative.  Thank you very much.  Thank you, Mike.  (Applause.)  Thank you.

All of us here today reaffirm these timeless truths: Faith keeps us free.  Prayer makes us strong.  And God alone is the author of life and the giver of grace.  (Applause.)

….

Religion in this country and religion all over the world — certain religions in particular — are under siege.  We won’t let that happen.  We are going to protect our religions.  We are going to protect Christianity.  We are going to protect our great ministers and pastors and rabbis and all of the people that we so cherish and that we so respect.

Categories: Donald Trump
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