Religious Figures Assemble To Blast President's Church Photo Op

SANTA MONICA, CA — An interfaith group will assemble Wednesday in Santa Monica to rebuke President Donald Trump for standing in front of Christian landmarks in the nation's capital earlier this week to have his picture taken.

"The President's attempt to hijack the spiritual richness of America cannot go unanswered," said Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels of Beth Shir Shalom in Santa Monica, who organized the event. " We, clergy and lay leaders of many faiths in the Los Angeles region, gather together to demonstrate what a true spiritual/religious response to racial injustice looks like, provide some spiritual solace and highlight the values that call us to do all we can to fight racism."

On Monday, Trump walked from the White House to pose in front of St. John's Episcopal Church while holding a bible after security officers cleared away protesters with tear gas.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, the spiritual leader for the Washington area's 88 Episcopal congregations, was outraged and made no effort to conceal it, accusing the president of using St. John's as a "prop," visiting "without permission" or warning and "acting like an authoritarian dictator."

She said she wanted to speak out to "make sure that the image of the president standing in front of St. John's holding a bible in his hand was not the definitive word that night, that that was not going to go unchallenged."

On Tuesday, as Trump prepared to visit the Saint John Paul II National Shrine a few miles from St. John's, Archbishop Wilton Gregory, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, denounced the event in similar terms, calling it "baffling and reprehensible."

Both prelates criticized the president for what they said was an opportunistic attempt to embrace faith in a moment of crisis.

Attending Wednesday's Santa Monica event besides the rabbi of Beth Shir Shalom, a Reform synagogue, will be representatives of the Santa Monica Area Interfaith Council, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice - Los Angeles, and The interfaith Guibord Center - Turning Religion Inside Out.

Santa Monica residents will have an emergency curfew at 6 p.m. Wednesday through 6 a.m. Thursday, city officials announced Wednesday.

Locals marched peacefully Tuesday along Rose Avenue and throughout Venice in response to police brutality and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

- City News Service and Patch Staffer Nicole Charky contributed to this report.

See more:

• Spectrum Celebrates SoCal Class of 2020 With Graduation Special
• Santa Monica Student Wins National Merit Scholarship
• More Than 400 People Arrested In Santa Monica