'Divine dreams' and 38 virgins at Trump prayer event
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump was surrounded by faith leaders calling for him to be given "divine dreams" in an extraordinary event at the White House on Thursday.
One man even knelt in front of the 78-year-old Republican for the ceremony in the Rose Garden to mark National Prayer Day.
Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other religious leaders then sang "Amazing Grace" as the thrice-married billionaire signed an executive order establishing a so-called Religious Liberty Commission.
Trump has taken on an increasingly religious tone since surviving an assassination attempt last year, saying at his inauguration that he had been "saved by God."
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"We're bringing back religion in our country, and we're bringing it back quickly and strongly," Trump said.
He said God had answered American "prayers because he's put in an administration to run this country that's going to make you proud again."
The Republican has long had an ambiguous relationship with religion -- not least amid a series of sex scandals and a criminal conviction. He also hawked US$60 Trump-branded Bibles on the campaign trail.
But he was hailed at the event in almost messianic terms.
"Surround him with divine supernatural protection," said televangelist Paula White, Trump's official spiritual adviser and head of his newly created Faith Office at the White House.
Leading a prayer for Trump, White called for a "spiritual reset" in America, with the 47th president at the helm.
"Grant him wisdom beyond human understanding.... and give him divine dreams, visions," she said.
One member of the audience rose from his seat and fell to one knee in a gesture of prayer before Trump as the president sat at a desk to sign the order.
Others raised their hands in the air as they sang.
Despite the various scandals that have swirled around him, evangelical Christians continued to back Trump in the 2024 election, just as they did in 2016.
Trump thanked them for their support at the event which lasted 90 minutes, held under a blazing sun.
He also stressed what he said were his efforts to bring religion back to the White House, including the Faith Office and the creation of an "anti-Christian bias" task force for the United States -- the country with the world's largest Christian population.
Trump has adopted a series of positions that have delighted America's religious right, including on abortion and transgender issues.
"They say 'separation between church and state.' I said, 'all right, let's forget about that,'" Trump said. "You guys are in the White House where you should be."
Trump then thanked the swaths of Muslim voters who backed him in the 2024 campaign, swayed by his promise to end the bloodshed in the Middle East.
But he drifted off on a tangent, riffing on the idea promoted in some forms of Islamic teachings that martyrs to their cause will receive 72 virgins in Heaven.
Talking about meeting imams in Michigan, where there is a large Arab-American population, Trump said: "I said 'you want to die?' They said 'We don't want to die', I said 'What about 38 virgins?' They say, 'that's nonsense."
Trump also embarked on a familiar litany of exaggerated or debunked claims, including that he won the 2020 election against Joe Biden -- himself a devout Catholic.
As people wiped sweat from their brows, Trump then brought a variety of people on stage, including TV host "Dr Phil" and most of the senior members of his cabinet.
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