Melanie Sloan: Why is President Obama Attending the Family's National Prayer Breakfast?
The one time of year when the Family emerges from the shadows is the annual National Prayer Breakfast, its signature event. This large-scale function serves as a recruiting tool for the group, but is often misconstrued by attendees as an official government event -- a perception reinforced by a presidential address at the breakfast, presidential seals strategically located around the room, and an organizing committee made up of members of Congress. Given the official façade, some attendees have expected at least a nod to other religions, but they are quickly disappointed. "JESUS is there!" reads a breakfast planning document. At past breakfasts, the Family has facilitated meetings between its foreign allies and the president as well as members of Congress, outside the reach of the Department of State and traditional U.S. diplomatic protocol. Past prayer breakfast attendees have included General Eugenio Vides Casanova of El Salvador, later found liable for the torture of thousands of civilians, and General Alvarez Martinez of Honduras, later linked to secret death squads in that country. The Family has been linked to ethically troubled politicians including Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), and former Rep. "Chip" Pickering (R-Miss.). These politicians were all at one time affiliated with the Family- run C Street House, a boarding house on Capitol Hill, which also operates as a church. Residents of C Street honored the organization's penchant for secrecy by taking a pact not to discuss their living situation.
The one time of year when the Family emerges from the shadows is the annual National Prayer Breakfast, its signature event. This large-scale function serves as a recruiting tool for the group, but is often misconstrued by attendees as an official government event -- a perception reinforced by a presidential address at the breakfast, presidential seals strategically located around the room, and an organizing committee made up of members of Congress. Given the official façade, some attendees have expected at least a nod to other religions, but they are quickly disappointed. "JESUS is there!" reads a breakfast planning document.
At past breakfasts, the Family has facilitated meetings between its foreign allies and the president as well as members of Congress, outside the reach of the Department of State and traditional U.S. diplomatic protocol. Past prayer breakfast attendees have included General Eugenio Vides Casanova of El Salvador, later found liable for the torture of thousands of civilians, and General Alvarez Martinez of Honduras, later linked to secret death squads in that country.
The Family has been linked to ethically troubled politicians including Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), and former Rep. "Chip" Pickering (R-Miss.). These politicians were all at one time affiliated with the Family- run C Street House, a boarding house on Capitol Hill, which also operates as a church. Residents of C Street honored the organization's penchant for secrecy by taking a pact not to discuss their living situation.
Well, he's delivering a jab to the English-only movement in the US:
Gracias a los Senadores Klobuchar e Isakson, y permítanme que les hable en castellano, en la lengua en la que por primera vez se rezó al Dios del Evangelio en esta tierra.
My thanks to Senators Klobuchar and Isakson, and allow me to speak to you in Spanish, the language in which for the first time the God of the Gospels was prayed to from this land
His choses bible passage was
Permítanme que les lea un pasaje de la Biblia, del capítulo 24 del Deuteronomio: "No explotarás al jornalero pobre y necesitado, ya sea uno de tus compatriotas, o un extranjero que vive en alguna de las ciudades de tu país. Págale su jornal ese mismo día, antes que se ponga el sol, porque está necesitado, y su vida depende de su jornal".
14 Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. 15 Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
