{"id":54,"date":"2010-04-07T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/obama-met-with-black-church-leaders-other-clergy-at-easter-prayer-breakfast.html"},"modified":"2010-04-07T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T07:00:00","slug":"obama-met-with-black-church-leaders-other-clergy-at-easter-prayer-breakfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/obama-met-with-black-church-leaders-other-clergy-at-easter-prayer-breakfast.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama Met With Black Church Leaders, Other Clergy at Easter Prayer Breakfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the heels of his family’s visit to an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church<\/a> on Easter Sunday, President Obama met with a group of black church leaders <\/a>before convening a larger gathering of clergy and community activists for an Easter prayer breakfast at the White House yesterday.<\/p>\n

Religion News Service reports<\/a> that about 90 Christians attended the event, including representatives from Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army, and an eclectic group<\/a> of evangelical and mainline Protestant pastors, including megachurch leaders like the Rev. Joel Osteen (Lakewood Church) and the Rev. Bill Hybels (Willow Creek Community Church).<\/p>\n

From Daniel Burke’s RNS story:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Obama said the Easter breakfast, along with a recent Passover Seder and a Ramadan dinner last fall, was part of his pledge to make the White House “a place where all people would feel welcome.” Presidential aides also said it gave Obama the opportunity to thank Christian leaders for their community service.<\/p>\n

But the breakfast also provided a platform for Obama to speak openly about his Christian faith, even as a small but stubborn minority of Americans believe he is Muslim.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Politics Daily<\/a>, Religion Clause<\/a>, and Bible Belt Blogger <\/a>covered this, too.<\/p>\n

*Click here to <\/span>subscribe to Belief Beat <\/span><\/strong><\/a>and <\/span>click here to <\/span>follow Belief Beat on Twitter<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the heels of his family’s visit to an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church on Easter Sunday, President Obama met with a group of black church leaders before convening a larger gathering of clergy and community activists for an Easter prayer breakfast at the White House yesterday. Religion News Service reports that about 90 Christians attended the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nObama Met With Black Church Leaders, Other Clergy at Easter Prayer Breakfast - Belief Beat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/obama-met-with-black-church-leaders-other-clergy-at-easter-prayer-breakfast.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama Met With Black Church Leaders, Other Clergy at Easter Prayer Breakfast - Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the heels of his family’s visit to an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church on Easter Sunday, President Obama met with a group of black church leaders before convening a larger gathering of clergy and community activists for an Easter prayer breakfast at the White House yesterday. 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