Bishops Threaten Religious Liberty By Keeping Prayer Private

Catholic bishops launched an assault on religious liberty by insisting that prayer should occasionally remain prayer rather than become taxpayer-funded campaign content. Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee and Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines expressed regret after the White House distributed photos and video of 12 bishops praying over President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Oct. 22. The bishops said they had arrived in good faith and had not consented to converting a pastoral encounter into pre-midterm advertising, a position that threatens the American principle that anything occurring within camera range of a president becomes his personal political merchandise.

Trump rejected the complaint, explaining that private worship is merely public worship suffering from inadequate branding. “Nobody has done more for private prayer than me, and frankly it was failing before I came along,” Trump said. “Now prayer has lighting, vertical video, captions, a presidential watermark and tremendous distribution in the swing states.” Grob said the gathering had been manipulated for partisan purposes, while Joensen said the White House had exploited the encounter. Administration aides countered that clergy surrender all expectations of spiritual privacy upon entering a building containing both the president and Margo Martin’s smartphone. They added that the First Amendment protects the government’s right to publish religious devotion before participants can object.

White House officials warned that requiring permission before turning pastoral ministry into campaign imagery could cripple the political economy. Candidates might be forced to seek explicit endorsements, explain policy positions or create advertisements featuring people who know they are in advertisements, all costly practices abandoned during the rise of ambient consent. The bishops’ argument could also spread to other sacred traditions, potentially allowing veterans, factory workers, grieving families and disaster survivors to decide whether their presence constitutes support for the president. The administration has therefore promised to defend religious freedom by publishing every spiritual encounter immediately, adding solemn music, donation links and captions explaining that God has joined the campaign. Prayer is now fully protected from politics once it has finished serving politics.

* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.