The National Prayer Breakfast is held every year on the first Thursday of February. hosted by members of the United States Congress, and organized by the Fellowship Foundation (a Christian organization), the breakfast has taken place every year since 1953, and is typically attended by around 3,500 guests that include international invitees from more than 100 countries.
The purpose? To be a forum for the political, social, and business elite to assemble and build relationships, and to acknowledge the importance of prayer and faith. Speakers often raise controversial issues for attendees to consider/address.
For his first prayer, President Donald Trump decided to pray for…
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his TV ratings for The Apprentice. Really?
“[W]e had tremendous success on ‘The Apprentice,’” Trump said, adding, “And they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went down the tubes. It’s been a total disaster and Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings, OK?” (Source)
Nice start.
Next, he went on to quote Thomas Jefferson, and promise to “totally destroy the Johnson Amendment.” (Source)
The Johnson Amendment is what keeps our “faith leaders” (pastors/priests, etc.) from endorsing politics in the church. Because of the Johnson Amendment, churches who do so can lose their tax exempt status. If Trump rolls this back, it opens the door for churches to become a place of religion and politics. It means that churches can donate to campaigns without oversight.
I’m sorry, but that’s unethical.
By the way… Arnold’s response:
The National Prayer Breakfast? pic.twitter.com/KYUqEZbJIE
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 2, 2017