WASHINGTON (ABP) — President Bush and a prominent biologist called the United States and the world to prayer during the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 1.
“You know, it's an amazing country, isn't it, when people from all walks of life gather to recognize our dependence on an Almighty God, and to ask him for blessings in our life,” Bush said. “I think a breakfast such as this speaks to the true strength of the United States of America.”
The breakfast, which is sponsored by a private foundation, has been attended by every president since Dwight Eisenhower. It takes place annually near the beginning of Congress' sessions. Although it started out as an explicitly Christian event, it has taken on a more ecumenical flair in recent decades.
“We come from many different faiths, yet we share this profound conviction: We believe that God listens to the voice of his children, and pours his grace upon those who seek him in prayer,” Bush said.
The breakfast — which draws many members of Congress as well as prominent businesspeople, diplomats and other world leaders — has in the past featured a celebrity speaker whose identity is closely guarded prior to the event.
Last year it was rock star Bono, the front man for the band U2 who has made a crusade of fighting global poverty. This year it was Francis Collins, the biologist who is director of the National Institutes of Health's National Human Genome Research Institute.
Collins also led the Genome Project, the massive effort to map the entire genetic makeup of humans. The effort has advanced the ability of scientists to treat genetic diseases.
Collins told the crowd that he sees no conflict between his religious faith and a rigorous belief in scientific inquiry. Strumming a guitar, he led the approximately 3,500 guests assembled in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton hotel in a hymn praising God for being the source of knowledge.
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