An Open Letter to the Left-Wing Bishop Who Lectured Trump and Vance at the National Prayer Service
This morning, while people were still sweeping up confetti and collecting empty champagne flutes from the inaugural balls, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and their wives attended the National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral. For the more liturgically-minded readers and those wayward Episcopalians, the order of service can be found here.
A certain amount of ecumenicism is to be expected and appreciated at such a service. Jesse J. Swann, Jr., chief of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, gave the invocation. Rabbi Susan N. Shankman read from Deuteronomy 10:17-21, and cantor Susan Bortnick offered the Jewish call to prayer. There were the requisite high-ranking members of the Episcopal Church and leaders from other Christian faiths, which is fine since the nation is not a homogenous entity.
Curiously, there was a reading from the Koran by Dr. Muhammad Fraser-Rahim, the associate Imam at Masjid Muhammad (The Nation’s Mosque), and the Muslim call to prayer led by Cantor Shayhk Akbar Sharrief, chief mu'adhin of the same mosque. One can understand the desire for inclusivity, but at the same time, Islam makes no bones about its disregard and contempt for other religions, especially Judaism and Christianity. But the formalities must be observed, I suppose.
The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington delivered the sermon. Much of the homily was dedicated to the concept that now is the time for all of us to get along. There was talk of unity and loving one's neighbor. However, the conclusion was primarily directed at Trump and, to an extent, Vance. And even if Budde had not called upon the president, there could be no mistaking the intent of the final paragraph:
Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country, and we're scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives and the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, wadhara, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we will all want strangers in this land.
Bishop Budde, if LGBTQ people are afraid, it is largely because of the rhetoric that anyone opposed to transgenderism is a proponent of "genocide."
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| "No more captions, Brett. Those ladies make me look conservative, or at least affirmative, sensitive, and bold." |
