Piety with a side of eggs
One of the most brazen if not most shameless “free exercise thereof” examples is the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Politicians gather to silently pray that the Lord will smite all their enemies — or at least get them indicted on multiple charges. And the common theme of comments at the event is that the political class is doing God’s work.
The prayer breakfast long ago turned into the type of “market” that Jesus castigated thousands of years ago. The prayer breakfast became notorious as “an international influence-peddling bazaar, where foreign dignitaries, religious leaders, diplomats and lobbyists jockey for access to the highest reaches of American power,” the New York Times reported. Maria Butina, who the media labeled as a Russian spy because she failed to register as a Russian agent, used the breakfast as a way “to establish a back channel of communication” with America’s top political leaders, according to a 2018 federal indictment. Franklin Graham described the prevailing motive at prayer breakfasts in 2018: “I can tell you right now, everybody in that room has the same agenda. They’re wanting to be able to rub elbows with somebody that they normally couldn’t rub elbows with.”
Controversy over the foreign spying spurred a newly formed organization to take over the prayer breakfast gig. It issued a revised mission statement: “The vision of the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation is to promote and share the idea of gathering together in the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth,” with participants “united in believing that by looking to the life of Jesus, people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs can join together, encourage and promote forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Politicians joyfully join together to con the rubes — to keep average Americans paying and obeying Uncle Sam. The national Prayer Breakfast is a keystone of civic religion in the nation’s capital. That religion is devoted to worshiping the government and pretending that federal agencies can perform miracles, regardless of their past records.
Hellbound and Down 