Faith leaders, politicians invoke God’s protection for Trump in wake of shooting

(RNS) — Reactions from faith leaders and fellow politicians to Donald Trump’s narrow escape from an apparent assassin’s bullet called upon God’s protection for the former president and for the nation. 

“May God protect all who serve us,” wrote Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Seminary on X, after news broke Saturday evening (July 13) that shots had been fired at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, shortly after the candidate took the stage. “Thankful former President Trump is safe. We need to know what happened here. This kind of attack is an attack upon our entire political system and our commitment to ordered liberty. Let’s pray for our nation.”

Mohler’s sentiments about the dangers of political violence were echoed across the religious spectrum in the United States. “There can be no place for violence, political or otherwise, in our nation,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union of Reform Judaism. “This is a dangerous moment and we must all appeal to the better angels of our nature. We are praying for President Trump’s health and for all those injured.”

Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, in his statement on X, wrote, “I ask you to join me in prayer for Donald Trump’s health and for our country to pull together in peace during these divisive times.”

Others were moved to thank God that the assailant, who was killed by Secret Service, was not successful. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, also on X. “I thank God that former President Trump is safe.”

Franklin Graham, the head of his father’s Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, similarly posted simply, “I thank God that former President @realDonaldTrump is alive.”

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida went further, proclaiming that “God protected Donald Trump,” seeming to bolster the notion, popular among some conservative Christians, that Trump has been ordained by God to lead the country.

Paula White, a Pentecostal pastor who headed the White House Faith-Based Office in the Trump Administration and recruited many members of the former president’s informal evangelical advisory board, also imbued the incident with a broader scope. ”They have tried to destroy this man from the day he walked down the escalator,” she wrote on X, accompanied by a picture of Trump with Jesus over his shoulders. “They lied on him, slandered him, tried to impeach him, tried to imprison him and now have tried to kill him.”

One spectator was killed and two critically injured during the incident, according to the U.S. Secret Service.

The Right Rev. Marianne Edgar Budde, Episcopal bishop of Washington, and the Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral, offered a prayer for Trump, and “the family of the individual who was killed as well as others who were injured.”

“Keep (Trump) safe, protect the innocent, and guard all those who serve our nation, including the brave members of the Secret Service,” they said in a statement, adding, “help us to find a better way to live together in your beloved community.”

Many political and faith leaders, even as they prayed for Trump, also asked for prayers for the country as a whole, and particularly America’s polarized political landscape. “We need to pray for the healing of our land, and for a safe and peaceful election this November,” wrote Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, on X.

U.S. Rep Mike Kelly, a Republican who represents Butler in Congress, told NBC News, “People of faith, tomorrow on Sunday morning, go to wherever it is that you worship, drop to your knees and pray for America.”

Those who have blamed Trump in the past for creating these divisions took little solace in seeing their warnings come to pass. Samuel L. Perry, professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma and the author, with Andrew Whitehead of “Taking America Back for God,” has expressed concern that the former president’s association with Christian nationalist ideas could raise the level of political violence in the country.

“Nothing good can come from this,” Perry posted on social media on Saturday. “Heartbreaking, infuriating, and so deeply concerning for our country.”