Christ, Islam contrasted at D.C. prayer breakfast

President Barack Obama used this morning’s National Prayer Breakfast to reiterate a common theme about Islamic terrorism—its supposed lack of connection to Islam.

Islamic State militants are part of a “death cult,”the president said, not a legitimate religion: “We are summoned to push back against those who would distort our religion for their nihilistic ends.”

The radical Islamists often referred to as ISIS or ISIL have set up a caliphate ruled by Sharia law in territory that spans Iraq and Syria. The group controls about one-third of each country and is spreading a reign of terror throughout the Middle East. On Tuesday ISIS militants released a video of Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned alive.

Jordanian King Abdullah II was scheduled to attend today’s breakfast in Washington but returned home after the video was released. He had planned to read the passage about the Good Samaritan from Luke 10.

In his remarks, Obama gave a nod to people of faith who are driven, like the Good Samaritan, to serve their neighbors. Those who use faith to justify murder, rape, and torture are betraying the religion they profess, he said.

The president asked, “How do we, as people of faith, reconcile these realities—the profound good, the strength, the tenacity, the compassion and love that can flow from all of our faiths, operating alongside of those who seek to hijack religion for their own murderous ends?”

Rather than focus his comments on Islam, Obama wagged a rhetorical finger at Christians, who he said were responsible centuries ago for atrocities during the Crusades and more recently for using the name of Christ to justify slavery and later Jim Crow laws in the United States. Because of that history, the president said, Christians especially should be humble in assuming they have all the answers or a direct line to divine revelation.

But Obama did acknowledge the good Christians do around the world and highlighted the plight of those persecuted for their faith. He noted the work of medical missionaries, including Dr. Kent Brantly, who attended the breakfast and offered one of the prayers. Brantly, who works with Samaritan’s Purse, contracted Ebola while serving at a hospital in Liberia operated by the Christian aid group SIM.

Obama also mentioned Saeed Abedini, the Iranian-American pastor jailed for more than two years in Iran because of his faith. The president referenced his meeting last week with Abedini’s wife, Nagmeh, and pledged to keep working for the pastor’s release. He also noted Christian Kenneth Bae, who recently was released from a prison in North Korea. He said the United States would continue to advocate for religious liberty around the world.

Despite the president’s emphasis on religion generally, the annual prayer breakfast is a distinctly Christian event, put on by U.S. senators who participate in a weekly prayer meeting while Congress is in session. The annual event’s speakers usually are conservative Christians and in recent years have included author Eric Metaxas and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Retired NASCAR driver and current Fox Sports commentator Darrell Waltrip gave this year’s keynote address, offering a clear presentation of the gospel message.

“If you’ve never gotten on your knees and asked Him to forgive you of your sins—you’re just a pretty good guy or a pretty good gal?—you’re going to go to hell,” Waltrip said, after telling the story of how he accepted Christ following a bad crash in 1983. He walked away from the wreckage wondering what might have happened to him if he had died.

During his younger years, Waltrip said he was arrogant and drank too much. He was more interested in hanging out at bars than going to church. But his wife, he said, prayed for him for years and continually pointed him toward God. When he finally got on his knees, he said it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

Waltrip began his message by saying he wasn’t sure what to think when the National Prayer Breakfast Committee called and asked him to speak. He said he finally decided he was the perfect guy to address the 63rd annual event, even though he’s not a brain surgeon and not running for office.

“I told you when I got up here I wasn’t running for anything, but I will tell you this,” he concluded. “I am running to something. The Lord is a strong tower. The righteous will run to it and be saved.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Video, courtesy of C-SPAN, of the National Prayer Breakfast: