{"id":8665,"date":"2017-02-01T05:35:26","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T05:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=8665"},"modified":"2017-02-04T07:38:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-04T07:38:45","slug":"national-prayer-breakfast-what-does-its-history-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/national-prayer-breakfast-what-does-its-history-reveal\/","title":{"rendered":"National Prayer Breakfast: What does its history reveal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diane Winston<\/a>, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On the morning of Feb. 2, 2017, more than 3,500 political leaders, military chiefs and corporate moguls met for eggs, sausage, muffins \u2013 and prayer. The Washington, D.C. gathering, the 65th National Prayer Breakfast, is an opportunity for new friends and old associates, from 50 states and 140 countries, to break bread and forge fellowship in Jesus\u2019 name. <\/p>\n

Convened on the first Thursday in February, the gathering, known as the Presidential Prayer Breakfast until 1970, has always included the American head of state. Donald Trump, in his maiden appearance, broke precedent with a powerful no holds barred speech<\/a> that put other countries on notice, threatened church\/state separation and mocked actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.<\/p>\n

As a scholar of American religious history, I am intrigued by how presidents negotiate the intricacies of church\/state relationships versus religion\/politics entanglements. Most avoid the former while trying to benefit from the latter. That\u2019s why the prayer breakfast is noteworthy \u2013 it is an opportunity for leaders to appear as Christ\u2019s servants rather than formidable heads of state.<\/p>\n

Faith first<\/h2>\n

President Dwight Eisenhower began the tradition with the first breakfast in 1953. While Eisenhower was initially wary of attending a prayer breakfast, evangelist Billy Graham convinced him<\/a> it was the right move. <\/p>\n

Speaking to an audience that included Graham, hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and 400 political, religious and business leaders, Eisenhower proclaimed<\/a> that \u201call free government is firmly founded in a deeply felt religious faith.\u201d <\/p>\n

Today, \u201cIke\u201d \u2013 the 34th president\u2019s nickname \u2013 is not remembered as being deeply religious.<\/p>\n

However, he was raised in a pious household of River Brethren<\/a>, a Mennonite offshoot. His parents named him after Dwight Moody<\/a>, the famous 19th-century evangelist who likened the state of the world to a sinking ship and stated,<\/p>\n

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\u201cGod has given me a lifeboat and said\u2026 \u2018Moody save all you can.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\n President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a personal chat with Rev. Dr. Billy Graham in Gettysburg on Sept. 8, 1961.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Ziegler0<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soon after his election in 1952, Eisenhower told Graham that the country needed a spiritual renewal<\/a>. For Eisenhower, faith, patriotism and free enterprise were the fundamentals of a strong nation. But of the three, faith came first. <\/p>\n

As historian Kevin Kruse<\/a> describes in \u201cOne Nation Under God<\/a>,\u201d the new president made that clear his very first day in office, when he began the day with a preinaugural worship service at the National Presbyterian Church. <\/p>\n

At the swearing in, Eisenhower\u2019s hand rested on two Bibles. When the oath of office concluded, the new president delivered a spontaneous prayer. To the surprise of those around him, Eisenhower called on God to \u201cmake full and complete our dedication to the service of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, when Frank Carlson<\/a>, the senator from Kansas, a devout Baptist and Christian leader, asked his friend and fellow Kansan to attend a prayer breakfast, Eisenhower \u2013 in a move that seemed out of character \u2013 refused. <\/p>\n

But Graham interceded, Hilton offered his hotel and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

A strategic move<\/h2>\n

It is possible that Graham may have used the breakfast\u2019s theme, \u201cGovernment under God,\u201d to convince the president to attend. Throughout his tenure, Eisenhower promoted God and religion.<\/p>\n

When he famously said to the press<\/a>, \u201cOur government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith, and I don\u2019t care what it is,\u201d he was not displaying a superficial or wishy-washy attitude to faith. Rather, as Ike\u2019s grandson David Eisenhower explained, he was discussing America\u2019s \u201cJudeo-Christian heritage.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n

The truth is, Ike was a Christian, but he also was a realist. Working for a \u201cgovernment under God\u201d was more inclusive than calling for a Christian nation. It also was strategic. Under his watch, the phrase \u201cunder God\u201d was added to the Pledge of Allegiance, and \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d<\/a> imprinted on the nation\u2019s currency. But legitimating the National Prayer Breakfast was a signature achievement. <\/p>\n

A political meeting?<\/h2>\n

The National Prayer Breakfast has grown steadily over the years \u2013 from 400 attendees to close to 4,000. The presence of the U.S. president has made the event a draw for leaders worldwide and networking before and after the breakfast.<\/p>\n

In a 2006 journal article, sociologist D. Michael Lindsay<\/a> described the breakfast<\/a> as a \u201cveritable ‘Who\u2019s who\u2019 of the political and evangelical worlds.\u201d Invitations cast it as an opportunity to \u201cseek the Lord\u2019s guidance and strength \u2026 and to renew the dedication of our Nation and ourselves to God\u2019s purpose.\u201d <\/p>\n

But according to Lindsey\u2019s conversations with men who attend the breakfast, most attend for political reasons, such as meeting the U.S. president, rather than its spirituality. <\/p>\n

For many, the upshot is making new friends with religious, political and business leaders. There also are opportunities for alliances that could happen away from public scrutiny. In 2010, for example, The New York Times wrote about possible ties<\/a> between the breakfast\u2019s sponsors and Uganda\u2019s persecution of homosexuals. <\/p>\n

A guide for the powerful<\/h2>\n

The prayer breakfast\u2019s success would have pleased Abraham Vereide<\/a>, the Methodist minister behind the meetings. Vereide immigrated from Norway in 1905 when he was 19. For many years, he ministered to the down and out \u2013 society\u2019s cast-offs. <\/p>\n

He started Goodwill Industries in Seattle and provided relief work throughout the Depression. But seeing how little progress he\u2019d made, Vereide turned his attention from helping the poor to guiding the powerful.<\/p>\n

According to author Jeff Sharlet<\/a>, Vereide\u2019s ultimate goal<\/a> was a \u201cruling class of Christ-committed men bound in a fellowship of the anointed.\u201d A fundamentalist and a theocrat, he believed that strong, Christ-centered men should rule and that \u201cmilitant\u201d unions should be smashed. Between 1935 and his death in 1969, he mentored many politicians and businessmen who agreed.<\/p>\n

During the 1940s, Vereide ran small prayer breakfasts<\/a> for local leaders and businessmen in Washington, D.C. The groups were popular, but he wanted to spread and enlarge them. Senator Frank Carlson was Vereide\u2019s close friend and supporter. When Eisenhower, the first Republican president since Herbert Hoover, was elected, Vereide, Graham and Carlson saw an opportunity to extend their shared mission of nurturing Christian leaders. <\/p>\n

Using the breakfast moment<\/h2>\n

In the years since, presidents have used the prayer breakfast to burnish their image and promote their agendas. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson spoke about the harrowing days<\/a> following John F. Kennedy\u2019s assassination and his desire to build a memorial for God in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

Richard Nixon, speaking after his election in 1969, said that prayer and faith would help America\u2019s fight for global peace and freedom. In 1998, Bill Clinton, faced with allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a White House intern, asked for prayers to \u201ctake our country to a higher ground.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n

But while presidents are cautious about their prayers, preferring generalities to specifics, keynote speakers (who are not announced until the morning of the event) are forthright. <\/p>\n

In 1995, Mother Teresa condemned abortion<\/a> as President Clinton, who supported women\u2019s right to choose, quietly listened. In 2013, pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson castigated the nation\u2019s \u201cmoral decay and fiscal irresponsibility\u201d<\/a> while President Barack Obama sat in the audience. <\/p>\n

And just last year, Hollywood power couple Roma Downey and Mark Burnett<\/a>, who produced the television miniseries \u201cThe Bible,\u201d recounted how their Christian faith led them to create \u201cfamily-friendly entertainment\u201d<\/a> that, they hoped, inspired viewers to talk about God, prayer and the Bible. <\/p>\n

More changes with time<\/h2>\n
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\n There is a wide diversity among breakfast attendees.<\/span>
\n Saint Joseph<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just as speakers have become more diverse, so have attendees. There are Muslims and Jews as well as Christians of all stripes. The Fellowship Foundation<\/a>, an organization started by Vereide that sponsors the breakfast, considers the National Prayer Breakfast as an inclusive event. Hillary Clinton has attended, as has Tony Blair, Senator Joseph Lieberman and musician Alison Krauss.<\/p>\n

But while the breakfast is an open tent, the small seminars and discussions that fill the days before and after are exclusive. These meetings, also organized by the Fellowship Foundation, convene clergy, politicians, military leaders and businessmen for high-level discussions on the global intersections of faith, power and money. The president does not attend these meetings, but his confidantes do.<\/p>\n

Historians, who might have hoped to listen for echoes of Vereide\u2019s call for strong Christian leadership and journalists, for clues for his future plans, were not disappointed. <\/p>\n

Reminding listeners that \u201cI fix things,\u201d<\/a> Trump pledged to be \u201ctougher\u201d in international dealings and to protect religious liberty. Specifically, he promised to \u201cviciously\u201d confront terrorism, take \u201cnecessary action\u201d against dangerous immigrants and \u201cdestroy\u201d the Johnson Amendment<\/a>, which restricts religious organizations from involvement in political campaigns. <\/p>\n

On a lighter note, the new president dropped \u201chell\u201d into his impromtu compliment to Senate Chaplain Barry Black and suggested prayer to help the ratings of his Celebrity Apprentice successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.<\/p>\n

The new president\u2019s performance was a departure from his predecessor who, in 2016, concluded his remarks with this prayer: <\/p>\n

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