Church removes Trump's name from 'prayers for leaders,' claiming his name is a 'trauma trigger'
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PASADENA, CALIFORNIA (FOX 32 News) - Leaders of a church in Pasadena, Calif., said they are not going to mention Donald Trump by name when they pray for leaders, because his name is "literally a trauma trigger."
Mike Kinman, the rector of All Saints Church, said in an open letter to the congregation that as Episcopalians, they regularly pray their leaders.
But he said that while in the past, they might have "prayed for 'Barack, our president,' we are now praying for 'our president, our president-elect, and all others in authority.'”
"We are in a unique situation in my lifetime where we have a president elect whose name is literally a trauma trigger to some people - particularly women and people who, because of his words and actions, he represents an active danger to health and safety," Kinman said.
"As I have said before, for some it could be as if we demanded a battered woman pray for her abuser by name. It’s not that the abuser doesn’t need prayer - certainly the opposite - but prayer should never be a trauma-causing act," Kinman wrote.
Kinman said this goes beyond disagreeing with the president, or saying that the president "deeply offends me."
"This is the level of compromising the safety of the worshipping community," he wrote.
Read the rector's entire letter here.