President Trump addresses the National Prayer Breakfast

The National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) is typically held each year in Washington, DC, on the first Thursday in February. Since 1953, it has been surrounded by a series of meetings, luncheons, and dinners. Every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has participated in the annual event.

Especially memorable guest speakers have included Mother Teresa, who pled in 1994 for an end to abortion. I heard the famed neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson address the group in 1997 and film producer Randall Wallace in 2011.

President Trump addressed the group earlier today, mourning the sixty-seven victims of the American Airlines and Black Hawk helicopter collision and calling for a new air traffic control system. “As one nation, we take solace in the knowledge that their journey ended not in the cold waters of the Potomac, but in the warm embrace of a loving God,” he said.

He also addressed the assassination attempt on his life, attributing his survival to God’s intervention. And he expressed his hope that Americans would become more religious and thus more united as a people.

If I were an atheist

If I were an atheist or a follower of a religion other than Christianity, I might wonder why leaders of a government whose constitution forbids the “establishment of religion” participate in such an overtly Christian event each year. The fact that the US president always attends and speaks gives the prayer meeting a credibility and gravitas that would be hard to match. I am not aware of any similar gathering sponsored by a different religion or an atheist or agnostic group.

This question is larger than today’s event, of course. The US Senate and House of Representatives each employ chaplains who are Christian ministers and begin their legislative days with opening prayers. The US Supreme Court often opens proceedings with chaplain-led prayers; “God save this honorable court” is part of the traditional announcement when the justices enter the courtroom.

And, of course, “In God We Trust” is our national motto, emblazoned on all US currency. It appears in public schools and on license plates in many US states as well.

This in a country whose constitution nowhere contains the word “God.” The word “religion” appears only twice: the First Amendment prohibits governmentally established religion and protects the right of citizens to practice their religion, while Article VI prohibits religious tests as a condition for holding public office.

But here’s the other side of the question: the First Amendment also states regarding religion that Congress shall “make no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The NPB is a “free exercise” of religion akin to a voluntary prayer meeting or worship service held anywhere in the country. No governmental official is required to attend by virtue of their office. No taxpayer funds are used to stage or promote the event.

It is the perennial job of our governmental leaders and courts to balance both sides of the First Amendment, typically on a case-by-case basis. The result is a country that embraces both freedom of religion and freedom from religion.

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”

I for one am grateful to live in a country that protects public religious expressions as ours does. But I am not thereby persuaded that such religiosity is sufficient for our souls.

The opposite is true, in fact.

My friends in Cuba could not begin to comprehend the kind of religious freedom we enjoy in America. They face constant governmental pressure when they preach the Scriptures, share the gospel, baptize converts, and otherwise seek to advance God’s kingdom across their island. And yet they are among the most vibrant and effective believers anywhere in the world. They are experiencing a genuine spiritual awakening in ways that are transforming lives and churches.

My experience in Beijing some years ago was similar: pastors of forbidden house churches were reporting miraculous experiences as God answered their prayers in ways that sounded like the Book of Acts in action. Such churches were multiplying beyond counting. A true spiritual movement is continuing across the country despite its government’s official atheism.

We are seeing similar movements in Iran and across the Islamic world, where multitudes of Muslims are seeing visions and dreams of Jesus and turning to him in faith. I have met such believers in Bangladesh and across the Middle East and rejoice in their miraculous stories.

Beginning with the apostles and the opposition they faced, the Christian movement has thrived when and where it has been persecuted. As Tertullian observed in the second century, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

Using liberty to encourage complacency

Of course, Satan hates everything I have just described and does all he can to oppose the advancement of God’s kingdom. He has historically employed persecution in his efforts to stop the Christian movement, even though many believers have been strengthened in their faith as they suffered for their Lord.

And so, our enemy employs a counter strategy as well: using religious liberty to encourage spiritual complacency.

If he can convince American Christians that ours is a “Christian” nation, perhaps he can persuade us that evangelism and sacrificial witnessing are less than essential in our day. Perhaps we will agree to privatize our faith to avoid the public opprobrium that comes when we declare and defend counter-cultural biblical morality. We might even soften our personal commitment to biblical morality to align more with popular culture and conventional wisdom.

After all, if the president of our country can speak at a “national” prayer breakfast attended by leaders from across the country, how essential is sacrificial public or private faithfulness?

“You have never talked to a mere mortal”

The simple fact is that no nation can be “Christian,” since nations don’t have souls. By contrast, as C. S. Lewis reminds us,

You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

As our nation’s leaders gathered today to pray, let us do the same. Let us pray for a great spiritual awakening to sweep our country and culture. Let us pray for a movement that would bring millions to saving faith in Jesus, transforming our ethics and common life. Let us claim the biblical promise, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Psalm 33:12), and redouble our efforts to help America be such a nation.

And let us begin with ourselves.

The famed evangelist Gypsy Smith was asked how revival begins. He replied that revival starts by drawing a circle and praying for revival to start within that circle, beginning with ourselves. He would often stop on the outskirts of a town or city, draw a circle in the dirt, and pray for God to send revival, beginning with himself.

Would you draw such a circle around your soul today?