{"id":12747,"date":"2018-02-09T15:47:29","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T20:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=12747"},"modified":"2020-09-17T11:45:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T15:45:19","slug":"president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation","title":{"rendered":"President Trump Says America Needs Faith in God to Be a Great Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Christopher<\/a>
Christopher Halloran\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President Trump spoke about the link between faith in God and national greatness at the 66th annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. He also declared that the United States of America will be a great nation provided its citizens remain open to the grace of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we can open our eyes to God\u2019s grace and open our hearts to God\u2019s love, then America will forever be the land of the free, the home of the brave, and a light to all nations,\u201d said Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Americans are able to live by their convictions to speak openly of their faith and to teach their children what is right, our families thrive, our communities flourish, and our nation can achieve anything at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also spoke on the religious heritage of the United States, pointing to the national motto \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d on money and \u201cUnder God\u201d in the Pledge of Allegiance, adding that \u201cthroughout our history, we see the story of God\u2019s providence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur rights are not given to us by man, our rights come from our Creator. No matter what, no earthly force can take those rights away,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s statements were part of the annual National Prayer Breakfast, a major DC-area event that features several members of Congress, world leaders, religious leaders and other honored guests.<\/p>\n

The National Prayer breakfast is a massive ecumenical gathering put on annually by a group of Christians who want to focus on a shared admiration of Jesus. Every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has attended the event, which draws several thousand people from around the world, especially evangelicals, who have proved strong supporters of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Trump also referenced the Bible at least twice in his address, mentioning Jesus both times.<\/p>\n

One group that was not thrilled with his remarks? Atheists. They are calling foul after Trump only referenced Christianity, and specifically Jesus Christ, in his remarks on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, said the president excluded Americans who practice other faiths or no faith at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump has taken these government-endorsed prayer breakfasts to a new low, demonstrating his ignorance and disdain for the growing diversity of faiths and philosophies found in the country he\u2019s supposed to be leading,\u201d Speckhardt said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The group compared his speech unfavorably to those previous presidents who acknowledge faith traditions other than Christianity. In his 2010 remarks President Obama called on \u201cAmericans of every faith, and no faith,\u201d to unite \u201caround a common purpose,\u201d specifically mentioning Hindus and Sikhs, as wells as Jews, Catholics and Protestants.<\/p>\n

While some groups felt Trump ignored the 33 percent of Americans that are not Christian, other groups are praising Trump for strongly declaring God\u2019s place in our nation.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s message was clear – that God has a uniquely Christian purpose for the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump spoke about the link between faith in God and national greatness at the 66th annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. He also declared that the United States of America will be a great nation provided its citizens remain open to the grace of God. \u201cAs long as we can open our eyes to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2055,2327,2318,630,394,2326],"class_list":["post-12747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-america","tag-christian-nation","tag-donald-trump","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-national-prayer-breakfast"],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Trump Says America Needs Faith in God to Be a Great Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Trump Says America Needs Faith in God to Be a Great Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Trump spoke about the link between faith in God and national greatness at the 66th annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. He also declared that the United States of America will be a great nation provided its citizens remain open to the grace of God. \u201cAs long as we can open our eyes to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-09T20:47:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-17T15:45:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lesli White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2017\/12\/DonaldTrumpspeachcreditChristopherHalloranShutterstockcom-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"President Trump Says America Needs Faith in God to Be a Great Nation","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"President Trump Says America Needs Faith in God to Be a Great Nation","og_description":"President Trump spoke about the link between faith in God and national greatness at the 66th annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. He also declared that the United States of America will be a great nation provided its citizens remain open to the grace of God. \u201cAs long as we can open our eyes to…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2018-02-09T20:47:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-17T15:45:19+00:00","author":"Lesli White","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2017\/12\/DonaldTrumpspeachcreditChristopherHalloranShutterstockcom-300x225.jpg","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation","name":"President Trump Says America Needs Faith in God to Be a Great Nation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2017\/12\/DonaldTrumpspeachcreditChristopherHalloranShutterstockcom-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-09T20:47:29+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-17T15:45:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f72f240cbc397de345b4a72c0109413"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2017\/12\/DonaldTrumpspeachcreditChristopherHalloranShutterstockcom-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2017\/12\/DonaldTrumpspeachcreditChristopherHalloranShutterstockcom-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/02\/president-donald-trump-says-america-needs-faith-god-great-nation#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"President Trump Says America Needs Faith in God to Be a Great Nation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f72f240cbc397de345b4a72c0109413","name":"Lesli White","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/849\/84981da9ba200c133618a7ef53be589dx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/849\/84981da9ba200c133618a7ef53be589dx96.jpg","caption":"Lesli White"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/author\/lwhite"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12747"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14340,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747\/revisions\/14340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}