'I was horrified': Witnesses injured by police testify about Trump's photo op at Lafayette Square

From USA Today-

Members of Congress heard from a series of witnesses, including several who were injured in the forcible clearing of protesters before President Donald Trump's controversial walk this month to St. John's Church for a photo opportunity.

The House Natural Resources Committee held its first hearing Monday on the incident June 1, in which protesters were removed from the park by authorities using chemical irritants, rubber bullets, shields and horses. Trump, who posed with a Bible in front of the historic church along with members of his administration, drew wide condemnation for the force used on demonstrators. 

House Democrats pressed the Trump administration for information on its response to the protesters, who were cleared roughly a half-hour before a 7 p.m. curfew in Washington. The Interior Department's inspector general's office opened an investigation.

More here-

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/29/trumps-photo-op-lafayette-square-focuses-hearing-congress/3270064001/

A call for moral leadership

From RNS-

Six divinity school deans and seminary presidents release a joint statement on the state of our national leadership

Joint Public Statement

America is facing three immense and immediate crises. Each has a critical moral dimension that has been notably neglected from much of our national leadership.

The first of these crises is the health crisis created by COVID-19 that has sickened more than 2 million Americans and killed 118,000 to date and counting. For many of us, these are not statistics, but members of our families, houses of worship, and cherished friends.

The second is the economic crisis brought on in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease. The necessary shelter-in-place orders under which we have all lived have led to an economic disruption that has caused more than 40 million Americans to file for unemployment since mid-March, taking the unemployment rate from its lowest level in half a century to a level unprecedented since the Great Depression. These are not simply numbers released weekly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they are people struggling to keep their homes.

More here-

https://religionnews.com/2020/06/23/a-call-for-moral-leadership/?fbclid=IwAR1u37jBNd_gPRbHthOWG5praj1jouAe5-1GPifMHbJvU6C1WqfWJRv-MIc

Fact check: Trump falsely claims 'insurance reasons' prevented him from entering St. John's Church

From CNN-

More than two weeks after his controversial photo-op outside a Washington, DC, church, President Donald Trump offered a new explanation last week for why he didn't enter St. John's Episcopal Church. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday Trump said there were "a lot of insurance reasons" for why he couldn't go in.

That isn't true.

 

Facts First: "There were no insurance reasons" why Trump could not have entered St. John's Church, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington told CNN on Friday. She said only a small room in the basement of the church, a nursery, had been damaged in a fire the day prior, and "the main sanctuary was not harmed at all."

 

Trump has faced criticism not only because police used force to clear peaceful protesters out of the way before the photo-op but because he merely brandished the Bible without opening it, offering a prayer, or going into the building.

 

More here-

 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/20/politics/fact-check-trump-st-johns-church-photo-op-insurance/index.html

'It was a significant miscalculation' | DC faith leaders frustrated over President Trump's June 1 photo op at St. John's Church

 From D.C.-

Two weeks after President Donald Trump posed for a photo op in front of St. John's Church, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde invited other interfaith leaders to hold a joint prayer vigil at the church Sunday. 

Bishop Budde felt the way the President went about the picture was a "crime."

“The crime was the dispersal of a peaceful crowd, with all of the symbolism of the American government and military," she said.

Previous WUSA9 reporting shows that law enforcement deployed flash bangs and gas, similar to -- if not -- tear gas, to clear out protesters before President Trump posed in front of the church.

More here-


https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/protests/crime-dispersal-peaceful-crowd-interfaith-leaders-call-action/65-e5906915-3097-4115-8fa1-edb8fbf6e626

Secret Service admits using pepper spray to clear protesters for Trump photo op

From NY Daily News-

The Secret Service finally admitted Saturday that it used pepper spray to clear protesters from outside the White House so President Trump could hold a photo op.

After nearly two weeks of adamant denials, the federal agency conceded that it did use chemicals to move peaceful protesters.

The statement added that the pepper spray was used “in response to an assaultive (sic) individual” without offering any evidence to back up the account.

Heavily armed federal personal from federal agencies violently cleared peaceful racial justice protesters from the area around St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Live TV footage showed troops firing rubber bullets and tear gas as they charged into the crowd of several thousand demonstrators.

More here-

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-secret-service-trump-photo-op-pepper-spray-20200613-qexpqo46b5fodhbdvwtryr3hrm-story.html

They turned holy ground into a battleground': clergy teargassed by Washington police

From The Guardian-

Episcopal clergy linked to St John’s church in Washington DC were among the peaceful protesters violently swept out of the way by police so that Donald Trump could pose in front of the building on Monday evening, and they have condemned the US president’s behavior.

The Christian leaders were teargassed along with protesters and journalists, some of whom were also shot with rubber bullets and punched by officers as they cleared a path to the church from the nearby White House.

“They turned holy ground into a battleground,” the Rev Gini Gerbasi said.

Gerbasi is the rector of nearby Saint John’s Episcopal church in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, a sister church of St John’s Lafayette that is better known as the Church of the Presidents because every one since James Madison has attended services there.

As Trump spoke at the White House, where he threatened to unleash the US military on protesters if state governors don’t crush unrest triggered by the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, riot police attacked the crowd outside the church.

More here-

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/02/clergy-priests-attacked-police-washington-dc-st-john-church-trump-photo-op

‘His tactic was obvious’: New England Episcopal bishops lambast Trump for ‘cynical’ Bible photo-op

From New England-

Nine bishops from across the Episcopal Church’s New England dioceses slammed President Donald Trump on Tuesday for posing with a Bible in front of a church in Washington, D.C., calling the move “disgraceful and morally repugnant.”

“His tactic was obvious,” the bishops who helm the church’s Province 1 dioceses said in a joint statement. “Simply by holding aloft an unopened Bible he presumed to claim Christian endorsement and imply that of The Episcopal Church. Far more disturbingly, he seemed to be affecting the authority of the God and Savior we worship and serve, in order to support his own authority and to wield enhanced use of military force in a perverted attempt to restore peace to our nation.”

More here-

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/06/02/new-england-episcopal-bishops-lambast-trump-bible-photo 

and here-

https://vtdigger.org/2020/06/02/vermonts-episcopal-bishop-decries-trump-photo-op/

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s statement on President Donald Trump’s use of St. John’s, Holy Bible

From ENS-

The following is a statement from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:
 
This evening, the President of the United States stood in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, lifted up a bible, and had pictures of himself taken. In so doing, he used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes. This was done in a time of deep hurt and pain in our country, and his action did nothing to help us or to heal us.

The bible teaches us that “God is love.” Jesus of Nazareth taught, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The prophet Micah taught that the Lord requires us to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.”

The bible the President held up and the church that he stood in front of represent the values of love, of justice, of compassion, and of a way to heal our hurts.

We need our President, and all who hold office, to be moral leaders who help us to be a people and nation living these values. For the sake of George Floyd, for all who have wrongly suffered, and for the sake of us all, we need leaders to help us to be “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/pressreleases/presiding-bishop-michael-currys-statement-on-president-donald-trumps-use-of-st-johns-holy-bible/

Priests reveal they were teargassed by cops clearing a path to St. John's Church for Donald Trump to have his photo taken as cops who fired the gas are pulled out for being misused and Bishop slams the president

From The Daily Mail-

Priests have revealed they were part of a peaceful crowd teargassed by cops who were clearing a path for President Donald Trump so he could take photos in front of St. John's Church in Washington DC. 

On Monday Trump left the White House and walked across the street to the historic church, which was partially burned in protests the night prior, to pose for photos with a Bible in hand. 

Trump was allegedly angry about news coverage that he fled into a White House bunker on Friday during George Floyd protests, and told his aides he wanted to be seen outside the White House gates, prompting his walk to St. Johns, according to CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlin Collins. 

But his photo shoot triggered outrage from church leaders and rival politicians, and led Arlington County police to pull their officers out of the capital after they were used to charge at protesters. 

More here-

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8378517/President-slammed-clearing-St-Johns-Church-area-tear-gas-photo-opportunity.html?ito=facebook_share_article-home&fbclid=IwAR2rAIU6xyCYWUuRhjna07Ab3MxyIwWxGPMEtDork4DxpGPQBF7FSUUyBLk

and here-

https://www.thedailybeast.com/episcopal-bishop-outraged-trump-tear-gassed-protesters-to-use-our-church-as-a-prop

and here

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Episcopal-bishop-on-Trump-Everything-he-has-15309650.php

and here-

https://theweek.com/speedreads/917624/episcopal-bishop-outraged-trump-used-dioceses-church-prop

13 Christian leaders criticize Trump policies they fear will increase poverty

From Christian Post-

Thirteen Christian leaders have signed onto a letter speaking out against President Donald Trump’s budget proposal and other administration policies that they say will add to the nation’s poverty and hunger issues. 

The Circle of Protection, a coalition comprised of leaders from various Christian organizations, published an open letter Tuesday calling out “administration actions that affect people in poverty.”

“As leaders from all the families of U.S. Christianity, representing church bodies and networks serving more than 100 million Americans, we are concerned about administration action to cut safety net programs that help low-income people,” the letter reads. “The gospel of God’s love for all people moves us to speak together on this issue.”

More here-

https://www.christianpost.com/news/13-christian-leaders-criticize-trump-policies-they-fear-will-increase-poverty-235180/?fbclid=IwAR3VgVV2TR3kVljoNgK8-v6s_aM9Lr5i5pcXr3na3bXMpMnFLmFNoZun8l4

Christianity Today's Editorial May Be Watershed Moment for 2020

From Sojourners-

Yesterday, the website for Christianity Today, the flagship publication for mainstream evangelicalism founded by Billy Graham, crashed from the influx of traffic when CT published an editorial arguing that President Trump should be removed from office. The editorial said that whether that happens via the impeachment process going on in the House and Senate, or the voters in November 2020 is a fair question on which reasonable people can disagree, but that the personal and public immorality of President Trump, as revealed in the House of Representatives’ impeachment investigation, is so egregious that he must be removed as a matter of faith.

The editorial was penned by Mark Galli, who is retiring as CT’s editor-in-chief on Jan. 3. Galli himself doesn’t think his editorial will move the needle for the average evangelical Trump supporter. It’s fair to say that, unfortunately, Fox News is much more influential than Christianity Today to the views of most white evangelical Trump supporters. That said, Christianity Today does reach more than 2.5 million people each month, and the importance of this editorial is that we may look back on it as a watershed moment for the 2020 election, when the first significant cracks in the wall of Trump’s political support from white evangelicals really became visible. Over time those cracks may now grow, and it’s important to also remember that it would only take a relatively small number of white evangelicals switching who they plan to vote for or deciding not to vote at all to shift the balance in key states away from President Trump.

More here-

https://sojo.net/articles/christianity-todays-editorial-may-be-watershed-moment-2020?fbclid=IwAR1bwpl6qbxjumAZ3l-IiFDGkArr-_KSt1Ox3sJMFDOHA5QnXqE2kLHmx9w

Why did Trump ditch his church in Palm Beach on Christmas Eve for evangelical service?

From USA Today-

On Christmas Eve, six days after a prominent evangelical magazine published a blistering editorial calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from office, the president and first lady ditched services at the liberal church in Palm Beach where they were married and headed to a conservative Baptist-affiliated church in West Palm Beach.

Whether the president’s decision to change the venue and denomination of his long-standing Christmas Eve tradition was tied to the editorial is not known. A White House press officer referred questions to the Florida GOP press liaison, who referred questions back to the White House.

It was the second effort Trump has made to court evangelical voters since he arrived at Mar-a-Lago on Friday — the same day his re-election campaign announced that he would go to Miami on Jan. 3 to launch an “Evangelicals for Trump” coalition.

It is unlikely that the first-couple’s absence from Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach and a surprise appearance at Family Church Downtown gained or lost the president votes among either congregation. Officials at both churches could not be reached for comment on the holiday.

More here-

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/26/trump-christmas-evangelical-church-holiday/2748260001/

Nearly 200 evangelical leaders condemned Christianity Today editorial on Trump

From Fox-

Nearly 200 evangelical leaders condemned Christianity Today's editorial calling for the removal of President Trump, which “offensively questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness of tens-of-millions of believers who take seriously their civic and moral obligations," they wrote to the magazine's president.

Christianity Today, one of the nation's top Christian magazine publications called for the removal of Trump on Thursday, one day after the House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment against him.

The letter to Timothy Dalrymple, the president of the magazine, also condemned the editorial for dismissing evangelicals who oppose its views as "far-right," the Christian Post reported.

More here-

https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/nearly-200-evangelical-leaders-condemned-christianity-today-editorial-on-trump

Paula White, Trump’s Personal Pastor, Joins the White House

From The New York Times-

Paula White, a televangelist based in Florida and personal pastor to President Trump whom he has known since 2002, has joined the Trump administration in an official capacity, according to a White House official.

Ms. White will work in the Office of Public Liaison, the official said, which is the division of the White House overseeing outreach to groups and coalitions organizing key parts of the president’s base. Her role will be to advise the administration’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative, which Mr. Trump established last year by executive order and which aims to give religious groups more of a voice in government programs devoted to issues like defending religious liberty and fighting poverty.

More here-

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/politics/paula-white-trump.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR2hZ_gg1o1FIWXCCeGaBsxXCCNabUKuIX8PhC3tk0tLhUAKCeeZ1v_xRpE

Over 100 Christian leaders sign letter supporting impeachment inquiry

From Kentucky-

At a gathering of “Red Letter Christians” in Goldsboro, North Carolina, over 100 Christian leaders from across the country signed a letter supporting the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Under the #PrayForTruth hashtag, the statement calls on fellow Christians to support the inquiry as a search for the truth, and to pray for all the elected leaders involved in the inquiry.

The mission statement of Red Letter Christians says “Staying true to the foundation of combining Jesus and justice, Red Letter Christians mobilizes individuals into a movement of believers who live out Jesus’ counter-cultural teachings.” The organization was founded by Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne.

The signers of the letter include some well-known figures in Christian and social justice circles:

• Rev. Dr. William Barber, II, Repairers of the Breach
• Rev. Jennifer Butler, Faith in Public Life
• Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo, Eastern University
• Rev. Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, The Resistance Prays
• Brian McLaren, Author
• John Pavlovitz, Pastor and Author
• The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, IX Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
• Rev. Jim Wallis, Sojourners

More here-

https://forwardky.com/over-100-christian-leaders-sign-letter-supporting-impeachment-inquiry/

Is it OK to pray for President Donald Trump’s defeat?

From Get Religion-

Prayers about elections during formal church services are usually non-partisan, though a parson may slip in a verbal wink to make sure that the Almighty – and the parishioners – know which candidate or party is preferable. Here are a couple pre-election prayers provided for communal worship:

From the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer: “Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States (or of this community) in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

From the U.S. Catholic bishops: “ … We pray for discernment so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word, live your love, and keep in the ways of your truth as they follow in the steps of Jesus and his Apostles and guide us to your kingdom of justice and peace.” The full text takes on a programmatic flavor with expressed concern for e.g.victims of poverty and for “children unborn,” but without designating candidates or parties.

More here-

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2019/8/19/is-it-ok-to-pray-for-president-donald-trumps-defeat

National Cathedral leaders: Trump's racial comments 'give cover to white supremacists

From CNN-

Leaders of the Washington National Cathedral slammed President Donald Trump's recent attacks on minority lawmakers and the city of Baltimore as a "dangerous" rallying cry to white supremacist violence.

The statement from the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington; the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral; and the Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, canon theologian of Washington National Cathedral, condemned Trump's tweets.

"When such violent dehumanizing words come from the President of the United States, they are a clarion call, and give cover, to white supremacists who consider people of color a sub-human 'infestation' in America," the statement read.

"They serve as a call to action from those people to keep America great by ridding it of such infestation," they added. "Violent words lead to violent actions."

More here-

https://www.wral.com/national-cathedral-leaders-trumps-racial-comments-give-cover-to-white-supremacists/18540941/

America seems to be on a death trip. We can’t fix it by demonizing one another.

From The Washington Post-

When Paula White, who’s often described as President Trump’s personal spiritual adviser, railed in her invocation at his reelection kickoff rally last week against “every demonic network who has aligned itself” against Trump, her words bothered me, personally and spiritually.

I’ve written critically about Trump, but I don’t consider myself a tool of the Devil, and I didn’t like it when a prominent religious leader seemed to be making that accusation about millions of Americans. We have enough problems in this country without the president’s pastor literally demonizing political opponents.

But it’s a good rule in journalism (and in politics and religion, too) to try to understand what motivates disturbing comments. And as it happens, I know a faithful supporter of Pastor Paula, as her followers call her, who could explain her theology. He’s the Rev. Paul F.M. Zahl, an Episcopal minister who was my closest friend in high school and with whom I still regularly correspond. He is a frequent attendee of Pastor Paula’s services.

More here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-seems-to-be-on-a-death-trip-we-cant-fix-it-by-demonizing-one-another/2019/06/25/db955036-9785-11e9-830a-21b9b36b64ad_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.243e792868ed

Praying for presidents? That's normal. Praying for Donald Trump? That fires up Twitter

From Get Religion-

Is it controversial to pray for the president of the United States?

Not really. Anyone who knows anything about religious life in America knows that, week after week, people in a wide variety of religious congregations pray for the president (and the nation’s leaders in general) in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes these prayers are short, inserted in a longer litany of concerns (as in the Orthodox Christian parish I attend) and sometimes they are longer and more specific.

Here is a special-use prayer drawn from the world of liturgical mainline Protestantism (The Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church): 

More here-

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2019/6/4/praying-for-the-president-thats-normal-praying-for-donald-trump-that-sets-twitter-on-fire

Robert Mueller goes to church next to White House while Trump is absent in Florida

From Washington D.C.-

Special counsel Robert Mueller attended church Sunday not far from the White House, leading to striking photos just after he submitted his report to the Justice Department.

Mueller and his wife Ann attended services at St. John's Episcopal Church, which is right across from Lafayette Park, located in front of the White House.

As they departed around noon, reporters snapped photos of pair, including some of Mueller with the White House in the background.

Mueller is a regular attendee of the church. His attendance this weekend came a week after President Trump attended services at the church with wife, Melania Trump.

More here-

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/robert-mueller-attends-sunday-services-at-church-near-the-white-house-after-submitting-report-to-doj