Donald Trump participates in National Prayer Breakfast

 

Trump at National Prayer Breakfast announces task force to end anti-Christian bias

President Donald Trump participates in prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the The Fellowship Foundation at the Washington Hilton on Feb. 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. | Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

By Madalaine Elhabbal

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 6, 2025 / 15:20 pm

President Donald Trump has announced the launch of a new Department of Justice task force dedicated to fighting anti-Christian bias.

During remarks delivered at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning, Trump said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi would head the task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” and halt “all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government.”

According to Trump, Bondi and the commission will “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and ... move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”

“While I’m in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals, and in our public squares,” he said. “And we will bring our country back together as one nation under God.”

The bipartisan National Prayer Breakfast has been split into two events since 2023 when a dispute between lawmakers and the event’s coordinators led to the establishment of a separate smaller event on Capitol Hill that is mostly attended by members of Congress and other government officials. 

Trump attended the Capitol Hill breakfast in addition to the main event, which was hosted at the Washington Hilton.

“I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief,” Trump told lawmakers during his remarks on Capitol Hill, stating: “Let’s bring religion back, let’s bring God back into our lives.”

The bipartisan National Prayer Breakfast has been split into two events since 2023 when a dispute between lawmakers and the event’s coordinators led to the establishment of a separate smaller event on Capitol Hill that is mostly attended by members of Congress and other government officials. 

Trump attended the Capitol Hill breakfast in addition to the main event, which was hosted at the Washington Hilton.

“I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief,” Trump told lawmakers during his remarks on Capitol Hill, stating: “Let’s bring religion back, let’s bring God back into our lives.”

President Donald Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast

 

Trump urges Americans to 'bring God back into our lives' in National Prayer Breakfast speech

WASHINGTON —

President Donald Trump said Thursday that his relationship with religion had “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year, as he advocated at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol for Americans to “bring God back" into their lives.

Trump joined a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship.

“I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief," Trump said at the Capitol. “Let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.”

Trump reflected on having a bullet coming within a hair’s breadth of killing him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, telling lawmakers and attendees, “It changed something in me, I feel."

“I feel even stronger," he continued. "I believed in God, but I feel, I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened.” Speaking later at a separate prayer breakfast sponsored by a private group at a hotel, he remarked, “it was God that saved me.'

He drew laughs at the Capitol event when he expressed gratitude that the episode “didn’t affect my hair.”

The president, who's a nondenominational Christian, called religious liberty “part of the bedrock of American life” and called for protecting it with “absolute devotion.”

Trump and his administration have already clashed with religious leaders, including him disagreeing with the Rev. Mariann Budde’s sermon the day after his inauguration, when she called for mercy for members of the LGBTQ+ community and migrants who are in the country illegally.

Vice President JD Vance, who's Catholic, has sparred with top U.S. leaders of his own church over immigration issues. And many clergy members across the country are worried about the removal of churches from the sensitive-areas list, allowing federal officials to conduct immigration actions at places of worship.

In 2023, the National Prayer Breakfast split into two dueling events, the one on Capitol Hill largely attended by lawmakers and government officials and a larger private event for thousands at a hotel ballroom. The split occurred when lawmakers sought to distance themselves from the private religious group that for decades had overseen the bigger event, due to questions about its organization and how it was funded.

An hour after calling for “unity” on Capitol Hill, Trump struck a more partisan tone at the second event across town, announcing that he was forming a commission on religious liberty, criticizing the Biden administration for “persecution” of believers for prosecuting anti-abortion advocates.

He also said he would name his new attorney general, Pam Bondi, to lead a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias."

And Trump took a victory lap over his early administration efforts to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion programs and to limit transgender participation in women's sports.

“I don’t know if you’ve been watching, but we got rid of woke over the last two weeks," he said. "Woke is gone-zo."

The Republican president made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That year the gathering came the day after the Senate acquitted him in his first impeachment trial.

Trump in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who publicly said she prayed for Trump, and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had cited his faith in his decision to vote to convict Trump.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said then in his winding speech, in which he also held up two newspapers with banner headlines about his acquittal. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend the prayer breakfast, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas are the honorary co-chairs of this year's prayer breakfast.

In 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden spoke at the Capitol Hill event, and his remarks were livestreamed to the other gathering.

U.S. Congressman to receive prestigious award at National Prayer Breakfast

 

New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith to be honored at National Catholic Prayer Breakfast

Devout Catholic and pro-life advocate Congressman Chris Smith will be honored at the 2025 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast held in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the office of Rep. Chris Smith

By Madalaine Elhabbal

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 13, 2025 / 15:20 pm

Devout Catholic and pro-life advocate Congressman Chris Smith will be honored at this year’s National Catholic Prayer Breakfast held in Washington, D.C.

The New Jersey representative will receive the organization’s annual Christifideles Laici Award at the 20th National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 28. Previous recipients of the award include religious freedom advocate Jimmy Lai; legal scholar Helen M. Alvaré; attorney and policy expert Mary Rice Hasson; and former U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

The Christifideles Laici Award was founded in 2019 by the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast to highlight the “good works” of those in service of the Church, according to the organization’s website. The award itself is an original work commissioned by the organization from the classical artist Isaac Dell and is inscribed with the words “In Honor and Gratitude for Fidelity to the Church, Exemplary Selfless and Steadfast Service in the Lord’s Vinyard.”

Smith is currently in his 22nd term in the U.S. House of Representatives for New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District, serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and has been a tireless defender of those suffering from religious persecution and human trafficking.

A staunch advocate of the pro-life cause, Smith is among the confirmed speakers at the March for Life this year along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Live Action Founder Lila Rose.

Late last year, Smith told CNA in an interview following a Mass celebrated in the U.S. Capitol that he and his wife, Marie, share a particular devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and that his office “places all of our pro-life and human rights work under her mantle.” 

“I do a lot on the human rights issue,” he said at the time, “and every bit of it, we turn to her and pray, you know, and ask her for guidance.” 

Smith told CNA he has a life-sized replica of the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe hanging in his office. “I’m amazed at how many people I meet — because I meet with diplomats all the time because of my human rights work and my committee assignments — they always take note of [the tilma].”

“I find there’s such devotion, particularly with the Latin Americans who come in — they look at [the tilma] and it’s instant,” he said. “And so this is, of course, a celebration of her, [and] the whole story of Juan Diego, and the whole story of, you know, 8 to 9 million people converting from human sacrifice and worshipping gods is such an amazing story of conversion and repair of souls.”

At National Prayer Breakfast, Rep. Steve Scalise speaks of God and the miracles resulting from his shooting

I am providing the full link here so you can have a chance to view many of the videos in this one story.  The introduction of Scalise by his friend, Democratic Representative Cedric Richmond is worth the view as is the keynote address of Scalise.

There is a transcript to follow the address of Rep. Scalise.

One thing his testimony drives home, God answers prayers and our prayers for one another are important.

Please view this link and the associated videos:


http://www.nola.com/religion/index.ssf/2018/02/prayer_breakfast_steve_scalise.html#incart_river_index