The Episcopal bishop of Washington said she was “outraged” Monday evening about President Trump’s visit to the facade of the church across the street from the White House and effectively accused him of blasphemy.
Bishop Marian Edgar Budde accused Mr. Trump in an interview on CNN, of “abuse of sacred symbols” by holding up a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church without telling the diocese.
“The president just used a Bible … and one of the churches of my diocese without permission as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus,” Bishop Budde said.
“I am outraged,” she said, adding that she only learned while watching TV of the Trump visit to the church, which had been attacked by protesters Sunday night.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde: “The President just used a Bible … and one of the churches of my diocese without permission as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything our churches stand for….I am outraged.” pic.twitter.com/yegcO7xoJ0
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 2, 2020
“I just couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing,” she said.
The bishop thundered prophetic judgment against Mr. Trump’s actions — ordering that protesters be cleared from Lafayette Park using tear gas, his martial rhetoric about the week of protests in the police killing of George Floyd, and what she described as his refusal to acknowledge systemic racism and racial oppression.
“I just want the world to know that we in the Diocese of Washington, following Jesus and His rule of love … distance ourselves from the incendiary language of this president.”
Bishop Budde noted that Mr. Trump did not come inside the church — which was closed — and “did not pray when he came to St. John’s” or come to confess.
She was backed later on social media by the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop in the U.S., who accused Mr. Trump of engaging in a useless partisan stunt.
“He used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry wrote on Twitter.
He added that “this was done in a time of deep hurt and pain in our country, and his action did nothing to help us or to heal us.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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