Interest in where and when Trump may attend services
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 is spending this holiday at Mar-a-Lago. The White House would not say if he would go to Easter services. A year ago, while a candidate, he attended The Episcopal Church of Bethesdaby-the-Sea, where he and his wife, Melania, 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.
But compared with the buzz in 2009 over whether newly elected Barack Obama would join a church, there has been less chatter this year about Trump.
Some of the more liberal churches oppose his policies. Also, he’s out of town a lot of weekends. And he’s not seen as a committed churchgoer anyway.
T o b e s u r e , O b a m a attended church only occasionally.
Perhaps the churches are better off without the hubbub, said the Rev. Darrell Scott, a pastor from Cleveland who supported Trump’s candidacy and serves on a faith advisory board.
Said Scott: “I believe one of the reasons he has not established a home church is it will become larger than life.”
Rai sed a Presby terian, 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.
I n h i s w e e k l y r a d i o 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.”
S o m e W a s h i n g t o n 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, though all are welcome.
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.
Even if Trump doesn’t go each week, heading to church from time to time might be a good idea politically, said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University.
“No president has ever done damage to his career by showing up to a church ser vice on Sunday,” said Brinkley.