President Donald Trump and his wife Melania stood up for religious freedom this week with a dinner ahead of this year’s National Day of Prayer.
The First Couple invited 100 leaders from different faiths to honor religious freedom at a Wednesday dinner that had a poignant resonance amid recent terror attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka, Jews in California, and Muslims in New Zealand.
United in faith
Trump entered the dinner with Melania at his side, dressed in a cream-colored gown. Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence were also in attendance.
Trump commenced the evening with a speech based on the theme of religious liberty and the need to stop the violence that members of various faiths have suffered around the world. He also called for members of all religions to come together and affirm the fundamental right of religious freedom, telling a crowd of religious leaders and White House officials that “all civilized nations must join together in this effort.”
The president invited leaders from the Christian, Sikh, Jewish, Hindu, and Islamic faiths to the event. Tragically, Trump’s speech came at a challenging time for many of those in the assembly.
His remarks came not one week after Jewish worshipers were attacked at synagogue in Poway, California. One worshiper was killed. Just a few days earlier, an Easter Sunday terror attack in Sri Lanka killed hundreds of Christians on their holiest day of the year.
Those attacks came one month after a horrific mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand and the tragic burning of three historically black churches last month by an arsonist in Louisiana. In his speech, Trump also mentioned the Tree of Life synagogue shooting last year in Pittsburgh before paying tribute to all the victims and affirming Americans’ belief in the power of prayer.
“All of us in this room send our love and prayers to the Jewish-American wounded at the Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting in California. And our hearts break for the life of Laurie Gilbert-Kaye, who was so wickedly taken from us,” Trump said. “We mourn for the Christians murdered in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, and grieve for the Muslims murdered at their mosques on New Zealand.”
The president went on: “Tonight we break bread together united by our love of God, and we renew our resolve to protect the sacred freedom of religion — for all of us.”
It was an honor to host so many wonderful faith leaders who joined us for dinner at the @WhiteHouse in celebration of tomorrow’s National Day of Prayer. pic.twitter.com/xGhGQEyzWk
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) May 2, 2019
Fighting anti-Semitism
The Wednesday evening dinner was held the night before the National Day of Prayer, which fell on Thursday. At a service in the Rose Garden that day, Trump stuck with the theme of unity and religious freedom and again called on all Americans to defeat anti-Semitism.
“We will fight with all our might and everything in our body to defeat anti-Semitism,” the president said. The president also invited Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was injured in the Poway shooting, to take the podium.
“You were the first person that began my healing process and I’m so grateful for that,” the rabbi said.
For her part, Melania Trump, who opened the Thursday ceremony, was widely praised for a Thursday tweet in which she celebrated “this great nation where we cherish the freedom of religion.” Melania prayed as her husband spoke from the podium.
.@POTUS and I welcomed many influencers of faith in observance and celebration of the #NationalDayofPrayer to the @WhiteHouse today. God Bless this great nation where we cherish the freedom of religion. pic.twitter.com/ZvLuVDuoZ0
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) May 2, 2019
Without a doubt, Trump and the first lady are right to honor religious freedom with events like these. No one should have to live their faith in fear.
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