2016 National Prayer Breakfast

The odious National Prayer Breakfast: Obama asserts that “Faith is the great cure for fear”:

Do you have two hours and a lot of antacids? Then by all means torture yourself by watching a bunch of politicians pander to religion in the latest National Prayer Breakfast, which took place yesterday. You can skip the first 37 minutes as nothing happens: it’s just people coming in and sitting down. Then it’s introduced with an explicitly Christian purpose (they mention Jesus, and later note that the purpose of the breakfast is to “lift up the nation with Jesus”).

Obama Speaks at National Prayer Breakfast:

THE PRESIDENT: Giving all praise and honor to God for bringing us together here this morning. 

And on this occasion, I always enjoy reflecting on a piece of scripture that's been meaningful to me or otherwise sustained me throughout the year. And lately, I've been thinking and praying on a verse from Second Timothy: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

For me, and I know for so many of you, faith is the great cure for fear. Jesus is a good cure for fear. God gives believers the power, the love, the sound mind required to conquer any fear. And what more important moment for that faith than right now? What better time than these changing, tumultuous times to have Jesus standing beside us, steadying our minds, cleansing our hearts, pointing us towards what matters. (Applause.)

His love gives us the power to resist fear's temptations. He gives us the courage to reach out to others across that divide, rather than push people away. He gives us the courage to go against the conventional wisdom and stand up for what's right, even when it's not popular. To stand up not just to our enemies but, sometimes, to stand up to our friends. He gives us the fortitude to sacrifice ourselves for a larger cause. Or to make tough decisions knowing that we can only do our best. Less of me, more of God. And then, to have the courage to admit our failings and our sins while pledging to learn from our mistakes and to try to do better.

And on and on and on... God is good, God is great, Jesus this, Jesus that...

Do you remember this? Atheist Asks Marco Rubio Whether He's Running To Be 'Pastor-In-Chief':

An atheist confronted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at a campaign event in Iowa on Monday night over his growing appeals to evangelical voters, a key demographic in the early caucus state.

The man asked Rubio how he planned on representing the rights of atheists once in office, "because there's talks in our community of you running as pastor-in-chief and not commander-in-chief."

We already have a pastor-in-chief, and his name is Pastor Barack Obama, and he preaches the same bullshit that other pastors preach.

The National Prayer Breakfast should be abolished.