President Trump promised to safeguard “freedom of religion” during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, vowing to repeal a provision of the tax code that prevents religious nonprofits from engaging in openly political activity and doubling down on his aggressive anti-terror message.
“My administration will do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty in our land,” Trump said. “America must forever remain a tolerant society … where all of our citizens can feel safe and secure.”
Trump alluded to a controversial executive order that temporarily suspended immigration from seven Middle Eastern countries as he described his administration’s efforts to stop the spread of Islamic terrorism.
“In recent days, we have begun to take necessary action to achieve that goal,” Trump said. “Our nation has the most generous immigration system in the world.”
But the president warned that terrorists could exploit the system and pose a danger to Americans, an argument that has long underpinned his push for a stricter set of standards for vetting refugees and immigrants from countries plagued by terrorism.
“There are those that would seek to enter our country for the purpose of spreading violence,” Trump said. “The world is under serious, serious threat in so many different ways, and I’ve never seen it so much and so openly as since I took the position of president.
“They drown people in steel cages,” Trump said of groups like the Islamic State. “All nations have a moral obligation to speak out against such violence.”
Trump also pledged to repeal a tax code provision called the Johnson Amendment, which bars churches from participating in political campaigns.
“I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment,” Trump said.
King Abdullah II of Jordan attended the breakfast, where he spoke with Trump. The two had “a very good conversation,” according to the White House.
Rear Adm. Barry Black, the first African-American Senate chaplain, delivered the keynote address at the event. It was at least the second time Trump has heard Black speak recently: Black also offered the prayer at Trump’s inaugural luncheon on Jan. 20.
Black noted that congressional chiefs of staff gather on a weekly basis for a Bible study and described a separate prayer meeting every Friday morning that he said draws more than 100 participants on Capitol Hill, from staffers to janitors.
Mark Burnett, the television executive behind Trump’s former reality show “The Apprentice,” introduced Trump by recounting a brief version of how he and the president came to collaborate on the successful NBC program.
