Hands Clasped in Boardrooms and Battlefields

Prayer's Double-Edged Sword Through Corridors of Power

Let me tell you a story. It's about hands clasped in boardrooms and battlefields—how the same folded fingers that might cradle hope can also pull triggers. I grew up in South Africa in the sixties, where public prayer was as normal as breathing. It was in Afrikaner schools, parliament halls, and even on military parade grounds where young men prepared to enforce apartheid's cruel logic there was prayer. We prayed earnestly, feverishly, as if our petitions could sanctify the unsanctifiable. Yet, therein lies the danger: when prayer becomes the incense burned before golden calves of power, even the holiest words risk becoming tools of blasphemy.

Prayer and Politics

I think of two men who understood prayer as subversion. Martin Luther King Jr., pacing a Montgomery kitchen at midnight, trembling until an "inner voice" promised never to leave him alone, is the moment where prayer became the spark for bus boycotts and Birmingham jail hymns.(King, 1963) Or Desmond Tutu, giggling through tears at a Cape Town pulpit, praying apartheid's walls would crumble while security police scribbled notes in the pews.(Tutu, 1999) Their prayers were not mere sanctimonious performances, but bold and courageous acts that confronted and resisted oppressive power.

Yet, in stark contrast, Reformed ministers from one of the three Reformed denominations invoked God's blessing over laws that tore families apart. Cabinet meetings where "Amen" echoed after plans to bulldoze Sophiatown, cleared District Six, or sanctioned torture at Vlakplaas. When religious symbols marry state power, the wedding too often births monsters. As Ted Peters warns, blasphemy isn't just cursing God's name—it's draping the divine over our worst impulses until oppression looks ordained.(de Kock, 2024)

From Franklin's Plea for Unity

The American founders knew this tension. When Benjamin Franklin broke the Constitutional Convention's deadlock in 1787 by suggesting daily prayer, it wasn't piety but pragmatism: a desperate grasp for unity.(Kidd, 2017) George Washington and Thomas Jefferson navigated a delicate balance in their inaugural invocations and church services held in the Capitol.(The First Inauguration, 2015) They sought to honour the moral compass of faith, while cautiously avoiding the pitfalls of state-sponsored religion.It was a delicate balance, as they sought to honour the moral compass of faith while cautiously avoiding the pitfalls of state-sponsored religion. Then, fast-forward to Eisenhower's 1953 National Prayer Breakfast—a ritual born from Cold War anxiety where "under God" entered the Pledge to spite Soviet atheism. Silent cabinet prayers then were ecumenical whispers, seeking common ground.

When George H.W. Bush took the stage, he institutionalised the practice practice of prayer at cabinet meetings, stating matter-of-factly, "We open every Cabinet meeting with a prayer." His son, George W. Bush, continued this tradition, particularly in the shadow of 9/11, when Secretary Rumsfeld's prayer session became a symbolic act of national unity. This ritual was documented in a bound collection, a testament to its prominence during the Bush presidencies.

Yet, the tune changed when Barak Obama took the lead. Though his Justice Department defended the constitutionality of legislative prayer in the landmark Town of Greece v. Galloway case,(How the Supreme Court Upheld Prayer at Town Meetings, 2014) preserving the legal framework, Obama himself chose not to incorporate prayer into cabinet meetings. A shift in rhythm, perhaps, as the nation grappled with its own identity.

Then came the crescendo of Trump's tenure, as he revived and amplified the cabinet prayer, starting in 2017 with HUD Secretary Carson's invocation following tax legislation. The volume only increased in 2025, as Secretary Turner's explicitly Christian invocation, citing Psalm 33:12, echoed through the halls. But we will get back to that soon.

President Biden, a devout Catholic, approached prayer differently. Instead of cabinet prayers, he opted for interfaith services that emphasised unity across religious traditions, while quietly holding on to his son Beau’s rosary beads. I am not suggeting that is approach is better than the others, In all honesty, I prefer no prayers over prayers that serve as religious cover for hidden agendas.

To Party Political Prayer

In 2025, HUD Secretary Scott Turner, a pastor-turned-politician, stood before the cabinet, his voice resonating with the familiar words of Psalm 33:12: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." The same psalm that once soothed David's soul as he fled Saul's spears now seemed to bless the administration's policy decisions, from tax cuts to border walls.

Let's sit with Psalm 33, listen to it not as a mere soundbite, but as the radical, transformative poem it truly is. When Secretary Turner invoked verse 12 - "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord", he approached the edge of a precipice, overlooking the verses that follow: "From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all humankind...he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do." Herein lies the heart this psalm, written for a theocratic kingdom, paradoxically dismantles the very notion of nationalism. The God who "loves righteousness and justice" is not confined by borders; the Creator who "fashions all hearts" watches over presidents and paupers with an equal, impartial gaze. This is no mere platitude, but a deep truth that upends our narrow conceptions of power and privilege. Yet Turner's prayer twisted this divine vision into a narrow benediction for partisan agendas:

"Father God…thank You for giving us this opportunity to restore faith in this country and be a blessing to the people of America…we pray that You would be glorified in our conversation. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Notice the sleight of hand: the psalmist's God who "foils the plans of nations" (v10) becomes a mascot for MAGA policy. The verses immediately following Turner's quote warn against trusting in military might ("no king is saved by the size of his army" v16) yet this cabinet met days after approving a $900 billion defense budget. The psalm crescendos with "We wait in hope for the Lord" (v20)—a posture of humility—while the administration's prayer claimed divine mandate for predetermined agendas.

How convenient - the psalmist's God who "foils the plans of nations" is now merely a mascot for partisan policies. And just after citing that rallying cry, the text cautions against relying on military might. Minutes later, during this same 2025 cabinet meeting, Trump praised his administration's military achievements, stating "I rebuilt our military during my first term—did a great job." The psalm calls for a posture of humble waiting on the Lord, yet the pastor’s prayer brazenly claimed divine sanction for its predetermined agendas. This is something we should all guard against.

The dissonance deepens in Psalm 33:18-19: "But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him…to deliver them from death." Historians recall how these very verses sustained Civil Rights marchers facing fire hoses—their "fear of the Lord" meaning solidarity with the oppressed. Contrast Turner's "righteous clarity"—a phrase absent from Scripture—deployed while slashing Section 8 housing vouchers. When the psalmist sings "the Lord loves righteousness and justice" (v5), he uses tsedaqah and mishpat, terms binding Israel to care for widows and migrants. Yet this same solemn invocation prefaced an administration actively dismantling asylum protections through executive orders that define the border situation as an "invasion," suspend refugee admissions, and attempt to end birthright citizenship.

Just days after this prayer for divine guidance, House Republicans passed their "one big, beautiful bill". This budget resolution outlines $4.5 trillion in tax breaks primarily benefiting higher-income households while cutting $2 trillion in mandatory spending, potentially harming lower-income Americans.

The full Psalm 33 prayer Israel sang wasn't self-congratulation but a plea against self-delusion: "May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you" (v22). No administration, whether apartheid South Africa or 2025 America, can claim that love while crafting policies that "bring harm in God's name".

When Prayer Becomes Prophetic

I return to Desmond Tutu, who when asked how he prayed amid state-sanctioned terror, chuckled: "I pray that the regime will repent… and when they don't, I pray that God will laugh them to scorn." True prayer in power's halls isn't chaplaincy to the status quo but a disruptive whisper—what Old Testament prophets called "plumb line" moments, measuring policies against justice's straight edge.

Martin Luther King Jr. knew this. His 1965 Selma march began with prayer, not as a photo op but as fuel for facing batons and dogs. Contrast this to Apartheid South African cabinet meetings where officials prayed before approving neighborhood bulldozings. Both invoked God; one liberated, the other enslaved. The difference? King's prayers came from below—the margins confronting power. The others came from above—power seeking a holy stamp.

Later Desmond Tutu would even warned the Jacob Zuma, the second President of South Africa after Nelson Mandela, that he would pray for the downfall of the ruling African National Congress like he did for the white minority regime.(Tutu, 2010)

A Bitter Cup

Ted Peters' notion of blasphemy haunts me. When Trump's cabinet prays for "righteous clarity" while he enriches the billionaires and cutting much need USAID for those most desparate, or when Afrikaner generals invoked Psalms before cross-border raids, they consecrate the profane.

Yet hope persists. When Lincoln, amid Civil War carnage, called Americans to "pray not that God is on our side, but that we are on God's side," he glimpsed prayer's purifying fire. The challenge for any leader is to let prayer interrogate their power, not anoint it.

Perhaps the answer lies not in banning prayer from governance but in demanding prayers that tremble—invocations more like Isaiah's "Woe is me!" than Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue dedications. For when hands clasp in the halls of power, they must do so not to sanctify agendas but to seek the courage to “love mercy, do justly, and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)

References

De Kock, W. J. (2024). On being in the middle: Doing theology in the face of uncertainty. Wipf & Stock.

How the Supreme Court Upheld Prayer at Town Meetings. (2014). https://www.scribd.com/document/222087784/How-the-Supreme-Court-Upheld-Prayer-at-Town-Meetings

Kidd, T. S. (2017). How Benjamin Franklin, a deist, became the founding father of a unique kind of American faith. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/06/28/how-benjamin-franklin-a-deist-became-the-founding-father-of-a-unique-kind-of-american-faith/

King, M. L. (1963, June 12). Letter from Birmingham Jail. http://fortwaynecrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-06-22-Letter-from-Birmingham-Jail.pdf

The First Inauguration. (2015). https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/inaugurations/the-inaugural-address/the-first-inauguration/

Tutu, D. M. (1999). No Future Without Forgiveness. In New Perspectives Quarterly (Vol. 16, Issue 5, p. 29). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5842.1999.tb00012.x

Tutu, D.M. (2010). The State of Our Democracy. In Law Democracy & Development (Vol. 12, Issue 2). African Journals OnLine. https://doi.org/10.4314/ldd.v12i2.52895