President Donald Trump addressed the 74th National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning at the Washington Hilton Hotel — the chief executive’s sixth speech to the group.
Focus on the Family president Jim Daly, who attended the annual gathering with over 3,500 attendees, including international dignitaries such as the president of Congo, qualified it as an important occasion to call on the Lord for His guidance and wisdom.
“Scripture commands that we pray for our leaders, and while we do so individually, it’s important to gather to do the same collectively,” Daly shared. “President Trump’s ongoing protection of religious liberty is deeply supported by faith leaders. We also appreciated his announced efforts to protect the rights of students to pray in public schools.”
President Trump used the event to announce the U.S. Department of Education was issuing guidance on constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression in public elementary and secondary schools. The president predicted foes of the plan would sue — but that his administration would ultimately prevail.
In a wide-ranging address that covered dozens of hot-button issues, Mr. Trump also made news by announcing a special prayer event in Washington, D.C. on May 17 called “Rededicate 250: National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving.”
As part of America’s 250th birthday celebration, the twelve-hour occasion promises that “In speech, song, and storytelling, we will bear witness to the extraordinary story of how God has powerfully and wonderfully shaped the United States of America — remembering the people, sacrifices, and defining moments in which God has powerfully manifested Himself in our history.”
“We’re going to rededicate America as one nation under God,” declared the president.
Mr. Trump spoke for over an hour, often veering away from his prepared text. Here are some of the highlights of what he said:
On the nation’s commitment to protecting people of faith all around the world:
“When Christians come under attack, they know they’re going to be attacked violently and viciously by President Trump. I know it’s not a nice thing to say, but that’s the way it is.”
“No administration in modern history has done more to confront the plight of persecuted Christians around the world than we have with us. It’s a mission. It’s actually a mission.”
On America’s deep Christian roots:
“We are endowed with our sacred rights through life, liberty, and not by government but by God Almighty Himself. And those words rang out from Philadelphia and launched a revolution not just in America but in the hearts of all humanity.”
“The principles of the Declaration of Independence, which is one of three, sitting right beautifully in the Oval Office. I took it out of the vaults, and it’s beautiful. It’s beautifully protected, and it’s a magnificent document. I stare at it all the time, and I read it as often as I can. A true, brilliant work of art.”
On the importance of faith in a thriving country:
“You have to have God. And thankfully, as we gather today, there are many signs that religion is coming back. And now it’s no longer signs. It’s just coming back. It’s coming back so strong. You know, your churches are filling up.”
On correcting the wrong of pandemic-era lockdowns:
“They were arresting people for going to church, and they were treating people horribly. I’ve made a lot of amends to those people. Those people were treated very badly for wanting to go to church … But the churches are now coming back stronger than ever.”
“In the last 12 months, young Americans attended church at nearly twice the rate as they did four years ago.”
“Some churches are seeing a 30 percent, 50 percent, or even 70 percent increase in the number of converts, and also the number of people going to church every week.”
President Trump praised Speaker Mike Johnson’s strong Christian faith:
“You know, Mike Johnson is a very religious person, and he does not hide it. He’ll say to me sometimes at lunch, ‘Sir, may we pray?” I say, ‘Excuse me? What happened to lunch?’ It’s okay with me. But he’s a very religious person, and he is popular, and he’s doing an unbelievable job. So, I think God is watching over you. God is watching over him. I don’t know about me, so I hang around with him because I feel I’m protected a little bit.”
On support for educational options for American families:
“We passed the largest ever expansion of school choice so that every parent has a chance to send their child to a school that shares their values.”
On the administration’s socially conservative commitments:
“We expanded the Mexico City policy to stop taxpayer dollars from being used to promote radical gender ideology all around the world … My administration also rejoined the Geneva Consensus Declaration to affirm the right to sovereign nations, to protect life, defend the family, and to be faithful to God.”
“I signed an executive order to slash federal funding for any public school that pushes transgender insanity. This is crazy on our youth. Who would think about that? Who would think if you go back 15 years, you’re talking about, and I stopped the mutilation of children. The word is mutilation. They mutilate.”
On the administration’s commitment to fight anti-Semitism and anti-Christian bias:
“I signed an executive order to combat the vile scourge of anti-Semitism, which is really raging. Surprising. Nobody’s ever seen it. I set up an official Department of Justice taskforce to eradicate anti-Christian bias, because you do have a lot of that. They don’t talk about that. They’re always talking about other religions and other different — but a lot of anti-Christian bias. And you see it going in foreign countries. I mentioned Nigeria. There are others. We’re hitting them very hard.”
“My administration is confronting head-on the militant and, really, intolerant campaign that tried to drive religious believers out of public life and out of society.”
On addressing the Minnesota church invasion:
“The Department of Justice recently charged nine individuals for storming a church in Minnesota during a worship service and trampling on Americans’ First Amendment rights. I watched that tape, and that was violent.”
“I thought the minister was great. He was so calm and good. They’re screaming at him. Terrible. Right in the middle of a church service.”
On peace through strength:
“As the Bible tells us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ That’s true. The peacemakers are very important. But you can only have peace, I find, through strength. If you don’t have strength, peace is very hard. And we have strength.”
“Almost 250 years after our founding fathers took one of the greatest leaps of faith in human history … [the] faith of the American people remains unbroken. It actually became stronger than ever. And it reminds us that prayers strengthen, prayers heal, prayer empowers, and prayer saves. Quite simply, prayer is America’s superpower. It really is a superpower. And it always has been, and it always will be.”
The prayer breakfast included a moving keynote address from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who recounted the tragic death of his wife, who passed away following a horseback riding accident.
“Sometimes following God doesn’t always mean that it’s going to work out the way that we want it to,” he shared. “After all, Jesus did say that ‘in this world, you will have many troubles,’ but He also said, ‘I have overcome the world.’”
“In my life, that truth then became real, and He became real to me, like He had never been. Oh, I had known Him, but now I began to know Him in a way that I had never known Him before. He became a healer and a redeemer, and a dispenser of hope.”
