Mike Pence at Franklin Graham’s Prayer March: ‘America is a nation of believers’

WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence addressed a crowd of tens of thousands from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Saturday at one of two events in the nation’s capital calling on Americans to come together in repentance and prayer.

Pence spoke at evangelist Franklin Graham’s Washington Prayer March, which began at the Lincoln Memorial and ended 1.8 miles away at the United States Capitol. In his speech, the vice president extended the greetings of President Donald Trump, whom he described as “a champion for people of faith, for life, and religious liberty.”

“Since the founding of our nation, the American people and our leaders have gone to prayer in challenging times,” Pence said. “George Washington prayed for the leaders and the people of our states what he called an earnest prayer that God would hold them and our states in his holy protection. Abraham Lincoln said during his time in the White House, ‘I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.’”

Pence proceeded to highlight how the president “has observed many times that America is a nation of believers.”

“When the president and I travel around the country, the sweetest words we ever hear, and we hear them a lot, are when people reach out and simply say, ‘I’m praying for you.’”

“We want to urge you all to pray for all of those with public responsibilities in the executive branch, pray for all the members of the Congress of the United States, (and) pray for all the justices on the Supreme Court, including the remarkable woman that the president will nominate to fill the seat,” he said.

The crowd began to erupt into applause when he mentioned Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who had yet to be formally announced when Pence spoke.

“In the wake of a global pandemic, we urge you to pray for all of those who are struggling with loss and with serious illness, pray for our doctors and nurses, and all of those that are bringing America through these challenging times.”