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Friend:
On Thursday, President Joe Biden joined an unbroken line of presidents stretching back to President Eisenhower by attending the National Prayer Breakfast. What most people don’t know (but you may well) is that the Prayer Breakfast is sponsored by the Fellowship Foundation (aka The Family), an intentionally covert Christian fundamentalist group promoting a regressive political agenda.
If you missed the news of this year’s Prayer Breakfast, you are in good company. After four years of President Trump repeatedly using the Breakfast to unveil cruel policies that misused religious freedom to override critical civil rights protections, this year’s virtual gathering was – thankfully – comparatively low key.
That’s not to say that the event doesn’t still serve to advance a dangerous and divisive agenda. AU urged Biden to use this opportunity to call out the very real threat of religious extremism that fueled the attack on our nation’s Capitol last month.
I was happy to see President Biden do just that. As I told the Religion News Service, “There has never been a more important moment for a president to call out white Christian nationalists who so recently tried to overturn our government, and desecrated the most sacred part of our democracy, than now.”
I also had the chance to speak with The Associated Press about the future of the National Prayer Breakfast, and made clear that if President Biden wants to connect with people on the basis of shared spiritual belief, AU would welcome a chance “to work with the administration to figure out a way to change the sponsorship of an event like this and to make it a place for Americans of all different religious beliefs,” including those who do not practice any religion at all.
We have a long way to go in untangling church and state. That was evident yet again last night, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order that misconstrued religious freedom to undermine public health in two cases involving religious groups challenging pandemic-related orders in California that limit large gatherings. Though the Supreme Court’s decision could have been worse – the Court blocked some of California’s restrictions while leaving others in place – the Court’s ruling is a scary one because it demonstrates that six Supreme Court Justices are willing to substitute their own views for those of public health officials to give special rights to religion. You can read my statement here.
Friend, we know our challenges are great, but AU will keep working to ensure religious privilege is not put above the health of the American people. Thanks for being with us on this crucial mission.
With hope and determination,
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