Trump in D.C. church only once in ’17

Interest in where president worships said to be not as keen for him as for predecessors

WASHINGTON — As Easter Sunday arrives, President Donald Trump has yet to attend a church service in the capital since the worship events of his inauguration weekend in January.

Trump was instead spending the holiday at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Fla., his frequent weekend destination. The White House would not say if he would go to Easter services. A year ago, while a candidate, he attended the nearby Episcopalian church where he and Melania Trump were married.

Where a president worships is always of interest in Washington.

Bill Clinton frequented a Methodist church. Jimmy Carter taught Baptist Sunday school. And Barack Obama visited an Episcopal church near the White House. Obama attended church only occasionally.

But compared with the buzz in 2009 over whether newly elected Obama would join a church, there has been less chatter this year about Trump.

The Rev. Darrell Scott, a pastor from Cleveland who supported Trump’s candidacy and serves on a faith advisory board, said the churches might be better off without the hubbub.

“I believe one of the reasons he has not established a home church is it will become larger than life,” Scott said.

Raised a Presbyterian, Trump has called himself a “religious person.” At a 2015 gathering hosted by Christian conservatives in Iowa, Trump said, “I’m Protestant, I’m Presbyterian, and I go to church, and I love God, and I love my church.”

He has also spoken about attending Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan.

In his weekly radio address, he called Easter Sunday “a holy day of reverence and worship” and “a sacred time that fills the spirit of our nation with the faith of our people.”

Some observers said Washington churches might be an uncomfortable fit for him.

“Churches in D.C. tend, not all, but tend to be a little more liberal. It’s a hard sell,” said the Rev. Roger Gench, the senior pastor at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church near the White House. He said his church has not reached out to Trump, although all are welcome.

“The policies of Trump are counter to the views of most of the people in the church,” he said.

The thrice-married Trump once espoused more liberal positions but ran for president as a conservative. He did not immediately win over the Christian right in the Republican primaries, but solid support from evangelicals helped propel him to the White House. And so far, those supporters are looking at his words and deeds over his church attendance, said Bob Vander Plaats, president of the conservative Iowa group Family Leader.

“When he announced our action as it relates to Syria and he also used the words, ‘seeking God’s wisdom,’ that’s an encouragement to me,” Vander Plaats said.

He added that conservative Christians are happy with policy moves such as nominating Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and signing legislation that lets states deny federal family planning money to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

In general, Vander Plaats said, “I also think faith leaders and people of faith are not looking for him to be somebody he’s not.”