The bishop at Tuesday’s prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, who urged Donald Trump to “have mercy” on immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, defended her comments and said she would not apologize.
Right-wing Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon gained national attention Tuesday when she made a direct appeal to Trump to show mercy and compassion to frightened individuals, including “gay, lesbian and transgender families from Democrats, Republicans and Independents,” as well as immigrants. , and those fleeing war and persecution.
After the sermon, the president attacked Budde online, calling her a “hard-line hater of Trump’s radical left” in a lengthy social media post Wednesday morning. He argued that she had “brought her Church into the political world in a very disgraceful way” and called her tone “nasty”.
Trump called the service “boring” and “uninspiring,” and said Budde and his church “owe the public an apology.”
His allies quickly joined in the criticism, with one Republican representative suggesting that Budde “should be added to the deportation list.”
In recent days, Budde has given interviews about his sermon and the negative reactions it received. She told reporters she would not apologize for her comments, despite criticism from the president and his allies.
“I don’t hate the president and I pray for him,” Budde told NPR. “I don’t think it’s necessary to apologize for a request for mercy.
“I regret that it was something that caused the kind of reaction that it had, in the sense that it actually confirmed what I was talking about earlier, which was our tendency to be outraged and not talk to each other with respect. But no, I won’t apologize for what I said.
Asked by MSNBC about the hostility she faced following her sermon, Budde emphasized her desire “to encourage a different type of conversation.”
“You can certainly disagree with me,” Budde said. “But could we, as Americans and brother children of God, speak to each other with respect? I would offer you the same thing.
Budde told MSNBC that she adopted the tone she used during the sermon because she believes we are currently in a “particularly difficult moment” when it comes to talking about immigrant populations.
“I wanted to make a plea, to ask him to expand his description of people who are afraid now and at risk of losing everything, and I thought that would be the most respectful way to say it,” Budde said, adding that his appeal was addressed both to the president and to anyone who might listen.
Budde said in an interview with The New York Times that she felt her sermon offered a “perspective that’s not getting a lot of airplay right now” and a perspective of Christianity “that’s been sort of stifled in the ‘public arena’.
“Begging for mercy is actually a very humbling thing to do,” she said.
“I didn’t ask him anything. I was begging him, like, can you see the humanity in these people? Can you recognize that there are people in this country who are afraid? … If it’s not him, if it’s not the president, could others?
Budde believed her plea would be “taken differently,” she said, believing it was an “acknowledgment” of “Trump’s position, his current power and the millions of people who support him.” put there.”
Budde told Time Magazine that she was “saddened by the level of vitriol” her sermon had “evoked in others,” noting that “the intensity of it has been disheartening.”
“I’m perfectly happy to have a conversation with people who disagree with me,” Budde said, adding, “The level of attack has been both discouraging and discouraging.”
Ultimately, Budde hoped his call for “dignity, respect for dignity, honesty, humility and kindness” would “resonate with people” and said that amid negative reactions, she had heard many people say they were grateful for her remarks.
Budde said she did her best to “present an alternative to the culture of contempt and say that we can bring multiple perspectives into a common space and do it with dignity and respect.”
“And we need it,” she continued, because “the culture of contempt threatens to destroy us. And I have a little taste of it this week.
As of Thursday morning, more than 30,000 people had signed a petition supporting his sermon.
The petition describes Budde’s sermon as “courageous” and “faith-filled” and says it represents “the prophetic voice we desperately need at this time.”
