Following in the footsteps and tradition dating back to President Dwight Eisenhower, President Trump hosted the 66th annual National Prayer Breakfast at the White House where he declared “America is a nation of believers” that is “strengthened by the power of prayer.”
Addressing a gathering many of whom were his ardent supporters who propelled him to the White House namely the Evangelicals and Christians, President Trump reminded everyone that America is a nation whose founding was deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian faith and where religion played a fundamental role in everything.
Unlike Barack Obama who spent his entire presidency fighting against Christianity and defending Islam, targeting Religious leaders, Churches and dismantling traditional Christian values, President Trump with all his flaws, has been unabashed in his promotion and defense of Christians and Christianity both in the U.S. and across the world.
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump holds a Bible as he speaks during the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual fall dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, Sept. 2015. Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
Although Trump did not explicitly campaign as a religious leader, he has emerged as a fierce defender of religious values and a promoter of the Christian faith in a nation where where God is central to everything dating back to its founding.
Among his pro-religious policies is the appointment of pro-life Judges and rolling back Barack Obama’s contraception mandate including stopping funding of abortions largely in poor Africa. He also declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a strategic geopolitical move and powerful religious symbolism, something which has solidified his support among Christians and Evangelicals.
Jerusalem’s Old City is home to the Dome of The Rock temple. Credit: Reuters/Ammar Awad
In highlighting the symbols of hope as a result of faith and prayer, President Trump brought everyone on their feet when he paid tribute to 9-yearl old Sophia Campa-Peters who suffers from a rare heart disease and whom he had asked the nation and the world to pray for as she underwent a complicated surgery.
The prognosis by attending physicians had been bleak and not promising.
9-year old Sophia Marie Campaign-Peters asked people to pray for her. Credit: Facebook
Due to the regular strokes she suffered, Doctors has warned the 9-year old prior to her surgery that she may lose the ability to walk. However, before she went for surgery, President Trump asked the nation to pray for her.
A few days later, he confirmed that the surgery had gone well, a message meant to affirm God’s presence and intervention in the process despite the prognosis by the doctors earlier.
Sophia Marie Campa-Peters suffers from a rare brain disease. Credit: Twitter
“Today we thank God that Sofia is with us, she is recovering and she is walking very well,” he said to loud applauses.
“You may only be 9-years old but you are already a hero to all of us in this room and all over the world
“As long as we open our eyes to God’s grace and open our hearts to God’s love, then America will forever be a land of the free, the home of the brave and the light unto all nations,” concluded the President.
President Trump hosted the 66th National Prayer Breakfast on 8 February, 2018. Credit: AP
President Trump also paid tribute to the North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho whom he mentioned during his State of the Union (SOTU) address, how his faith kept him alive while escaping the brutal murderous regime of Kim Jong Un.
Although the speech delivered at the 66th Annual National Prayer Breakfast may have been short, it was nonetheless effective, somber and very thoughtful.
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