'Faith is the great cure for fear': Obama speaks at annual National Prayer Breakfast in WA

'Of course recently, we've heard inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim Americans. It has no place in our country.'

During the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, President Barack Obama spoke of God, fear and love.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - At the breakfast, both Democrats and republicans set aside their differences to build relationships based on their Christian beliefs.

The event was founded by a Methodist minister in 1953 and is held the first Thursday of every February. The meeting is actually a series of luncheon and dinner meetings and it is customary for the President and a surprise guest speaker to take the stage.

This year President Barack Obama spoke against fearing honest Muslims, who are an entirely different people than ISIS members and other religious extremists.

The President quoted 2 Timothy, saying, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

He continued, touching on "shifts in technology and in our economy...destructive conflict, disruptions to our climate" and how they affect the public.

Obama recalled feeling the "threats of previous eras" that people see in their own way, but he believes "our unique strengths as a nation make us better equipped than others to harness this change to work for us, rather than against us."

He spoke of the rapid onset of change and "the uncertainty that it brings," particularly concerning the poor, refugees, terrorism and even man's progress. The President described the fear of such changes as "a primal emotion" that "we all experience," adding "it can be contagious, spreading through societies, and through nations. And if we let it consume us, the consequences of that fear can be worse than any outward threat."

Obama delivered his powerful speech by bringing in God, saying "faith is the great cure for fear. Jesus is a good cure for fear. God gives believers the power, the love, the sound mind required to conquer any fear. And what more important moment for that faith than right now?

"What better time than these changing, tumultuous times to have Jesus standing beside us, steadying our minds, cleansing our hearts, pointing us towards what matters. His love gives us the power to resist fear's temptations. He gives us the courage to reach out to others across that divide, rather than push people away. He gives us the courage to go against conventional wisdom and stand up for what's right, even then it's not popular...

"And so like every president, like every leader, like every person, I've known fear...If Scripture instructs me to 'put on the full armor of God' so that when trouble comes, I'm able to stand, then surely I can face down these temporal setbacks."

Staying in line with the fear motif, Obama spoke of Ebola, the Charleston shooting, Syrian refugees, mosques, churches, the Gospel of Jesus and "the command to love God, and love one another."

The President went so far as to mention the ceremony at the Israeli Embassy he attended to honor the people who saved Jews during the Holocaust, his visit to a mosque.

Obama's speech concluded with what he prays for: leaders who "act with humility and generosity," that his "failings are forgiven," that believers would "uphold our obligation to be good stewards of God's creation" and to "see every single child as our own, each worthy of our love and of our compassion.

"And I pray we answer Scripture's call to lift up the vulnerable, and to stand up for justice, and ensure that every human being lives in dignity."

To read the full transcript of President Obama's speech, please click here

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