When the National Prayer Breakfast takes place in Washington, D.C., Thursday morning, some people of faith will be missing on purpose. And they hope others will join them in boycotting the annual exercise in civil religion.
Anticipation that President Donald Trump will use the platform to promote his form of Christian nationalism is one reason for the boycott but the protests have been a long time coming.
Once a must-attend event for anyone on Capitol Hill claiming to be a person of faith, the National Prayer Breakfast has come under intense scrutiny in the age of Trump.
The Feb. 5 event will return to the Washington Hilton Hotel, after a two-year relocation to the Capitol Rotunda. That move was intended to depoliticize the bipartisan event but was instead criticized for making it more political.
The decision to return to the larger location at the Hilton “reflects both gratitude for how we adapted during an unprecedented time and excitement about continuing this year’s gathering in the tradition by which it has long been defined,” said Rep. Cline, event co-chair. “The purpose of the event is to bring members (of Congress) together with the president in a spirit of humility, reflection and prayer.”
President Donald Trump speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol on February 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Trump has no history of humility, reflection or prayer. At last year’s Prayer Breakfast, newly returned president announced the recreation of the White House Faith Office, to be led by faith-healing televangelist Paula White. He also announced his “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias.”
In 2020, Trump used his speech at the Prayer Breakfast to disagree with the keynote speaker’s theme of “love your neighbor.” Trump said he preferred the part of the Bible that taught “an eye for an eye.”
Paul Raushenbush
Paul Raushenbush and the Interfaith Alliance he leads have called for a caution about this year’s event. A news release warned Trump is likely to “use the language of religion as an excuse to justify divisive policies that have harmed religious communities and undermined religious freedom.”
“The most pressing threat to religious liberty in our country today is the Trump administration itself,” Raushenbush says in a new report detailing the administration’s abuses. “Religious Americans don’t need their protection — we need protection from their attacks. From attacking bishops who refuse to comply with their authoritarian actions, to giving the greenlight for ICE to desecrate houses of worship, to pushing the misuse of the Bible and Ten Commandments in our public schools, the Trump administration is trampling on the freedom of all Americans to practice their faith free from government interference.”
The Secular Coalition for America and the Freedom from Religion Foundation joined other nonprofits to create a letter to members of Congress, asking them not to participate in the 2026 National Prayer Breakfast.
“The past several years have made clear that the National Prayer Breakfast is not a benign event,” the letter says. “In 2025, President Trump used the breakfast to suggest he was chosen by God to lead the nation, promoted the idea that we need to bring religion back, and reinforced a Christian nationalist political program. His remarks framed political opponents as threats and cast governance itself as a religious mission, rather than a constitutional one.”
President John F. Kennedy addresses the 1961 National Prayer Breakfast from the podium beneath a large cross and the flags of different nations. Dignitaires shown include United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai E. Stevenson; Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara; Billy Graham; Sen. Frank Carlson of Kansas; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson;. (Wikipedia/public domain)
Further, the National Prayer Breakfast “continues to sit at the center of a week-long hub of related Christian nationalist gatherings, including the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance hosted by Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council.”
Rachel Laser
Americans United for Separation of Church and State President Rachel Laser also warned the return to the Hilton signals the return of “an unholy alliance between government officials and the Christian nationalist organization The Family, also known as The Fellowship or the Fellowship Foundation.”
“The National Prayer Breakfast is deeply problematic because members of Congress are directly involved in hosting a religious event — one that overwhelmingly favors one narrow version of Christianity at the exclusion of all other beliefs,” she said. “Add a Christian nationalist organization directing the event from the shadows and President Trump habitually using the platform to launch partisan attacks on his political opponents, and you have an event that corrupts rather than celebrates religious freedom.”
The 2023 move to the Capitol building was part of an effort to wrest control of the breakfast from The Family, a controversial political-religious group tied to evangelicalism and Republican politics.
The National Prayer Breakfast has been held since 1953 across both Republican and Democratic administrations and bipartisan congressional leadership. Despite that history, it has been promoted and celebrated most often in recent years by evangelicals and Republicans.