The FFRF Action Fund applauds a letter from members of the Congressional Freethought Caucus urging Speaker Mike Johnson to address the numerous concerns about the National Prayer Breakfast.
Echoing these concerns, the FFRF Action Fund, as part of a coalition, is asking members of Congress in a new sign-on letter not to attend the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Feb. 6.
Both letters detail the National Prayer Breakfast’s problematic affiliations, including its links to Christian nationalist get-togethers such as the NPB Gathering and the National Day of Prayer and Repentance, which showcase extremist figures like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. They also raise questions over the potential use of Statuary Hall for sectarian purposes, which would further entrench government endorsement of religion.
The National Prayer Breakfast, long organized by the shadowy Fellowship Foundation, has served as a source for Christian nationalist and dominionist ideologies and remains linked to extremist religious movements that threaten American democracy. Despite a recent window-dressing split in sponsorship, the event continues to serve as a platform for sectarian religious rhetoric, alienating millions of nonfundamentalist Christians and nonreligious Americans.
“By endorsing this event, members of Congress lend credibility to an exclusionary religious gathering that prioritizes Christian dominance over the constitutional principle of separation between state and church,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, president of the FFRF Action Fund. “It is deeply inappropriate for lawmakers to participate in a gathering that advances sectarian goals under the guise of unity at the seat of federal government. It’s time for public officials who’ve taken an oath to uphold our secular Constitution to get off their knees and get to work for the common good.”
Fish Stark, executive director of the American Humanist Association, states, “Hundreds of years after our founders decided not to have a prayer at the Constitutional Convention, the National Prayer Breakfast makes a mockery of American ideals. It’s one thing for members of Congress to come together to share their faith traditions. It’s another thing for a sketchy, radical anti-gay group with questionable foreign influence to host an event in the U.S. Capitol promoting the anti-American idea that one religious faith should control the government. The National Prayer Breakfast is a sham. We’re proud of these leaders in Congress for pulling back the curtain on it, and we encourage members of all faiths who believe in the separation of church and state to boycott it.”
Nick Fish, president of American Atheists, emphasizes the broader implications of congressional participation: “Nonreligious and religiously unaffiliated Americans now make up the largest cohort in the United States. When elected leaders endorse an event as sectarian and divisive as the Fellowship Foundation’s National Prayer Breakfast, they fail to uphold their duty to represent all constituents — including atheists, agnostics and other ‘Nones’ — and violate the principle of pluralism, which has guided our nation since its founding. In the face of rising white Christian nationalism, American Atheists stands united with the Congressional Freethought Caucus, interfaith groups and other civil rights organizations recognizing this event as an inappropriate endorsement of a particular religious ideology and not only a violation of our Constitution but also a betrayal of the American people.”
Secular AZ says: “Secular AZ has been at the frontlines for 15 years fighting for the separation of religion and government throughout the state. We believe that government — from school boards to the White House — must be free from religion and religious indoctrination, and that includes the Prayer Breakfast.”
Scott MacConomy, government affairs director of the Secular Coalition for America, remarks, “The Secular Coalition for America believes that members of Congress could make far better use of their time than attending this glaring confluence of church and state. The government is four months into fiscal year 2025, and the spending bill isn’t close to passing. They should be working on that or any of a thousand other problems facing the nation instead.”
The FFRF Action Fund, allied organizations and community leaders urge members of Congress to take a stand for religious neutrality and democratic integrity by declining to attend this event. They call for lawmakers to instead uphold their duty to govern on behalf of all Americans — regardless of religious belief or nonbelief.
The FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues. FFRF Action Fund is the advocacy arm of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a state/church watchdog and the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics) with 40,000 members nationwide.