At Trump’s inauguration, reports of a pay-to-pray
According to a report, you can pray with Trump and Melania. It’ll only cost you $100,000.
News story by Jack Jenkins | Religion News Service
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is reportedly planning an interfaith prayer service the day before his inauguration, where participants can worship alongside the businessman and his wife, Melania.
But those who want to join need to weigh the price of prayer: Tickets to the service will be awarded only to those who donate at least $100,000 to Trump’s inaugural ceremonies, or who raise $200,000.
Earlier this month, Axios cited a seven-page prospectus that listed the service alongside several other donor-only events, such as a “cabinet reception” with Trump’s nominees and “candlelight dinner” with Trump and Melania.
According to the report, if a donor gives $1 million or raises $2 million, they’ll earn six tickets to the suite of inauguration events.
Officials for Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests to confirm the service. No details about where the event will occur or who will be involved were specified in the prospectus.
Trump’s prayer service at first inaguration
The morning of Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, the president-elect sat for a prayer service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, a historic location across Lafayette Square from the White House. The church, often referred to as the “Church of the Presidents,” later became known as the site where Trump posed with a Bible during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations on June 1, 2020.
Among the racial justice demonstrators forcibly removed from Lafayette Square and the surrounding area just before Trump’s Bible photo op were a seminarian and an Episcopal priest who, at the behest of the local Episcopal diocese, were handing out water to protesters from St. John’s patio. At the time, the incident prompted outrage from the Rt. Rev. Marianne Budde, who oversees the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, telling Religion News Service she was “horrified” by the events of the day.
A representative for St. John’s declined to confirm whether they plan to host another inaugural service for Trump. Texas Pastor Robert Jeffress, a longtime Trump supporter who preached the sermon titled “When God Chooses a Leader” during Trump’s 2017 inaugural service, told RNS last month he had not yet been asked to do the same this go-round, though he noted he is very “enthusiastic about his election.”
A prayer service for the well-being of America
Trump may well hear from Budde again this year, this time in a worship service at the Washington National Cathedral, which traditionally holds an inaugural prayer service, usually in close partnership with whichever presidential candidate won the election. In 2017, Trump sat for a 70-minute service at the cathedral that featured Budde, as well as a Catholic archbishop of Washington and a local imam, among other religious leaders.
The decision to host the event in 2017 drew criticism from Episcopalians, including the Rev. Gary Hall, the cathedral’s former dean, who said Trump “violates any possible norm of Christian faith and practice.”
The Cathedral announced earlier this year it would be holding a “Service for the Nation” on Jan. 21 and that Budde will be preaching, irrespective of who won.
“This will not be a service for a new administration,” the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, the Cathedral’s current dean, said in a statement released in October. “Rather, whichever party wins, this will be a service for all Americans, for the well-being of our nation, for our democracy and the importance of the core values that must undergird our democracy.”
The Trump transition team did not respond to repeated requests regarding the president-elect’s plans for the service or whether he plans to attend.
Sean Feucht adds his take on an inaguration prayer service
Meanwhile, other groups are preparing their own worship services. Last week Sean Feucht, an evangelical Christian musician and conservative activist who has advocated for Christian nationalism, revealed in a promotional video plans to host a “Revive in 25” worship service, in which Feucht said “worship is going to pave the way” for Trump’s inauguration.
But soon after announcing the service’s location at St. Joseph’s, a historic Catholic Church on Capitol Hill, the church’s priest, the Rev. William H. Gurnee, wrote to RNS in an email that he had not granted permission for the use of the church. “While I was asked to host the event, I informed the organizer that I needed more information and it was mistakenly reported that final permission was granted,” Gurnee wrote.
Gurnee added, “It is my feeling that this event would be better hosted at another location.”
Feucht seemed to acknowledge the mixup in an X post on Thursday, lamenting “warfare” he insisted was “coming against” him and his team to host the event. In a separate post published Friday, Feucht said the service was still happening but noted in an attached video that the location was “TBD.”
Looks like a religious industrial complex engaged in spectacle to me. I’ll be watching to see if the purchased access to power results in Jesus’ requirements for followers: feed the hungry, universal access to healthcare, reasonable and compassionate immigration reform, and kindness to prisoners including aversion programs like education and ensuring ample opportunities for humans to thrive.
Sadly, my suspicion is the continuation of current Christianity’s misaligned anti-LGBT+ and anti-abortion priorities that are indistinguishable from a child trafficking organization. Also, Jesus did not say one word about LGBT+ people or abortion.
Also, it’s not the look religions think it is. Why does God need to pay for access to the president? Or have lobbyists and Heritage Foundations, etc. no different than commercial enterprise.
I have so many questions but I need to shut up now. Or write a column.
Worse than praying on a street corner for all to see.