Quick Summary
- Democratic Sen. Chris Coons explains why he prays for Republican President Donald Trump.
- Coons discussed his mixed reactions after praying with Trump at the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast.
- He emphasized the importance of civility and bipartisanship in addressing national challenges, saying Trump is not his ‘enemy.’
Democrat U.S. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware recently revealed that he prays for Republican President Donald Trump and does not consider him to be “my enemy.”
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church of Washington, D.C. hosted an event on Monday titled “Living Out One’s Faith in Difficult Times: An Evening with Senator Chris Coons.”
During his remarks, Coons, who has served in the Senate since 2010, said he received mixed reactions when he prayed with Trump on stage during the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.
“I said, ‘Mr. President, would you please stand with me? I want to pray for you,’” Coons recounted, when talking about the risks that one takes in faith. “Now why is that a risk at all?”
“And to the hundreds who called and texted and complained about what I did, I said ‘what part of pray for your enemies did you not understand?’ And he is not my enemy.”
“How many of us pray for Donald Trump every day? Anybody?” Coons asked his audience, with the senator raising his own hand while asking. “Joe Biden said ‘you can’t just love your country when you’re winning.’”
Coons said he prays “for our former president and our current president,” joking that the next time he meets with Trump he will tell him “that he’s been very good for my prayer life.”
The 62-year-old Democrat acknowledged the challenges facing the country regarding civility and division. He noted that while things are “hard” and he was “struggling these days,” he found comfort in Philippians 4:6-7.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” reads the biblical passage.
While claiming that some of the Trump administration’s policies are centered on “cruelty,” such as the cutting of the United States Agency for International Development and other programs, Coons also discussed the importance of bipartisanship and “finding common ground.”
During the question-and-answer segment, Coons said he has introduced both “prophetic” bills that he knows will not pass, but also “pragmatic” legislation built on compromising with ideological opponents.
“Donald Trump signed five of my bills into law last month. Five,” Coons said, receiving some applause from the audience.
Coons spoke about working with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to pass a bill that added $100 million for research into ALS and for improved access to treatments for the disease.
“What gives me hope in Congress is that we still do things like that,” he said. “We still find a way to find each other to say ‘I may hate you … but you’ve got some good ideas and a bill that I’m willing to carry forward.’”
“I’m willing to put aside that I don’t like what you did on this day or what you said on that day. But if I can see my way towards helping our people, I’ll do it.”
Coons said he often wears an American flag lapel pin on his jacket, as many members of Congress do. But he does not wear the item whenever he attends worship.
“I wear a flag pin most days when I’m on the floor when I’m serving. I took it off as I walked in,” said Coons to his church audience. “I take it off when I go to worship.”
“I take it off to remind myself that as a Christian, my loyalty, my heart, my commitment belongs to Christ. A Christ of all peoples and all nations of all backgrounds. Not of one country, not of one flag, not of one time.”
Coons, an attendee of First & Central Presbyterian Church of Wilmington, Delaware, who holds a divinity degree from Yale, has often spoken about his faith and how it influences his politics.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday’s Shannon Bream on her “Livin’ The Bream” podcast last year, for example, Coons made the point that the Gospel “is neither Republican nor Democrat.”
“It does not say, you know, ‘thou shalt prioritize tax cuts over feeding the hungry.’ It does not say, you know, ‘thou shalt put at the top of your list this concern or that concern,’” Coons told Bream.
“There are 2,000 references directly in Scripture to the poor and to the widow and the orphan and the refugee. And it is what Christ focused on, in reading a passage from Isaiah 61 in his first sermon.”
