WATCH: President Trump and others wrap up inauguration events with National Prayer Service

January 21, 2025, 10:49 AM

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and their respective families will wrap up inauguration festivities on Tuesday morning with a prayer service held at the Washington National Cathedral in D.C.

The “National Prayer Service” will be streamed live for the public online for the first time this year.

Watch the service below and stay with WTOP for all your inauguration coverage.

Prayers at United States presidential inaugurations

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Public prayer service

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013 – An interfaith National Prayer Service at 10:30 am in the National Cathedral was attended by President Obama, Vice President Biden and their spouses.

• Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and • Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the Washington National Cathedral gave the welcome.
• Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins, president and General Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) gave the opening acclamation.
• Rev. Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, co-chair of the National African American Clergy Network gave the prayer for the day.
• Rev. Elder Nancy L. Wilson, moderator of the Metropolitan Community Church gave the first reading.
• Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly led the reading of the psalm.
• Cantor Mikhail Manevich of the Washington Hebrew Congregation gave the invitation to prayer.
• Rev. Dr. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Kathryn Lohre, president of the National Council of Churches, and Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America together gave the prayer for those who govern.
• Cardinal Donald Wuerl of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington led the second reading.
• Abdullah M. Khouj, president and imam of the Islamic Center of Washington, gave a traditional Islamic call to prayer.
• Sapreet Kaur, national executive director of the Sikh Coalition, Rev. Charles Jenkins II, senior pastor of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, and Dr. Stephen F. Schneck, of the Catholic University of America led the prayer for those who serve.
• Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition led the third reading.
• Allison Mondel, cantor of Washington National Cathedral, gave an invitation to prayer.
• Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR Jewish Community, Rev. Dr. Serene Jones of Union Theological Seminary (New York), and Archbishop Demetrios of America, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America gave the prayers for the people.
• Dr. Wintley Phipps of the Dream Academy gave the anthem.
• Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church gave the prayer for the nation.
• Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor Village United Methodist Church led the Lord's Prayer.
• Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church gave the benediction.

Saturday, January 21, 2017 – An interfaith National Prayer Service in Washington National Cathedral[26] was attended by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and their spouses.

• Carlyle Begay of the Navajo offered the invocation.
• Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington gave the welcome.
• Bishop James B. Magness, bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries of the Episcopal Church led the opening acclamation.
• Dean Randolph Marshall Hollerith of Washington National Cathedral led the opening prayer.
• Mikhail Manevich of Washington Hebrew Congregation gave a Jewish call to prayer.
• Rabbi Fred Raskind of Temple Bet Yam, St. Augustine, Florida, read the first reading.
• Evangelist Alveda King, Director of Civil Rights for the Unborn, Priests for Life; Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr., Hope Christian Church, Beltsville, Maryland; and Narayanachar Digalakote, Senior Priest, Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, Lanham, Maryland, led prayers for those who govern.
• Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, led a prayer for civil leaders.
• Imam Mohamed Magid, Executive Imam, ADAMS Center, Sterling, Virginia, gave the Muslim call to prayer.
• Sajid Tarar, Advisor, Medina Masjid, Baltimore, Maryland, read the second reading.
• Pastor Greg Laurie, Senior Pastor, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Riverside & Irvine, California, and Dr. Jack Graham, Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church, Plano, Texas, led prayers for those who serve.
• Archbishop Demetrios of America, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America led a prayer for service to others.
• Canon Rosemarie Logan Duncan of the Washington National Cathedral gave the Christian call to prayer.
• Dr. David Jeremiah, Senior Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church, El Cajon, California read the third reading.
• Dr. Ronnie W. Floyd, Senior Pastor, Cross Church, Arkansas, read Psalm 23.
• Dr. David D. Swanson, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Orlando, Florida, read the fourth reading.
• Jesse Singh, chairman, Sikhs of America; Minister Ian McIlraith, Director of Youth Programs, Soka Gakkai International-USA, Santa Monica, California; and Anthony Vance, Director of Public Affairs, United States Baha’i Community, led prayers for the people.
• Cissie Graham Lynch, Samaritan's Purse, lead a prayer for peace.
• Pastor Ramiro Peña, Senior Pastor, Christ the King Baptist Church, Waco, Texas, led the Lord's Prayer.
• Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, Roman Catholic Church, led a prayer for our country.
• Bishop Magness offered the closing prayer.
• Bishop Budde gave the blessing.
• Rev. Darrell Scott, Senior Pastor, New Spirit Revival Center, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, gave the dismissal.

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News
Tuberville says trans kids ‘should live in fear of their parents’ after bishop’s Trump remarks

Updated: Jan. 21, 2025, 6:21 p.m. | Published: Jan. 21, 2025, 4:06 p.m.

By Howard Koplowitz | hkoplowitz@al.com

Alabama’s senior senator on Tuesday claimed parents who raise transgender children are committing “child abuse,” suggesting that trans kids “should live in fear of their parents,” not the government.

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s tweet on Tuesday came in response to the Episcopalian bishop who implored the Trump administration to “have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now.”

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Tuberville suggested “trans children” should be more scared of those who raise them than the government. ... “These ‘trans children’ should live in fear of their parents and the sick people that enable those ‘guardians’. It’s child abuse. An absolute disgrace.” the senator tweeted while posting the video of Budde’s remarks.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

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Updated 6:21 p.m. to include a response from the Alabama Transgender Rights Action Coalition’s response to Tuberville’s tweet.

Donald Trump is not often forced to listen to those who disagree with him, and when the newly inaugurated president is confronted with his critics, he tends to unravel. The Republican’s debate meltdowns, for example, have become the stuff of legend......

Hours later, shortly after midnight, the president abandoned subtlety and published a far more forceful rebuke to his social media platform. It read in its entirety:

The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!

There’s no point in fact-checking every error of fact and judgment in the president’s online harangue. The Rev. Edgar Budde is not a “so-called” bishop; there is no “giant crime wave”; Trump’s line about “mental institutions” has long been ridiculous, etc.....

Take a moment to imagine what would happen if a progressive House Democrat called for an American religious leader to be kicked out of the country for delivering a sermon he or she disagreed with.

What’s more, whether Republicans appreciate this or not, the more they whined about the bishop’s sermon, the more likely it became that the public would hear what Budde had to say. The Streisand Effect is, after all, a real phenomenon.

Let’s also not forget that for many congressional Republicans, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, there was a Biden-era “scandal” about officials targeting and harassing religious leaders. It was nonsense, of course, though it’s hard not to notice that these same GOP leaders have far less to say about their allies targeting Budde......

The post-inaugural national prayer service, however, shed light on the limits of the president’s approach: Religion must be celebrated, protected, respected and venerated, Trump apparently thinks — just so long as the faith community is telling him what he wants to hear.