An obsession with tea drives my partner mad. Every trek down the coffee & tea aisle at the local Giant supermarket includes a warning about any tea purchases. Discovering my Amazon adventures also prompts the same warning.
Cups of English or Irish Breakfast tea bring me comfort and joy. Chicken noodle soup, but not just any brand, brings me joy and comfort. Lipton’s Cup-A-Soup leaves me feeling extra warm and cozy.
Fondness for these delicacies confounded me until now. Enjoying either concoction elicits memories of my Grandma. Many memories were made in her Mahomet, Ill. mobile home.
A quilt frame dominated the dining room. Green shag carpet blanketed much of the floor. A rocking love seat, in which she rocked me as a baby, sat in the corner.
So, eating on a TV tray in the living room--sitting on a long brown couch--was often the only option. I consumed many cups of soup and tea on that TV tray. Drinking those cups lets me relive warm and cozy moments at Grandma’s house.
Reflection yielded an epiphany. Being safe, warm, and loved made Grandma’s house so special. Cups of hot tea and soup are safety and security in liquid form. Grandma, thank you for the memories.
And happy birthday. Grandma--Lucille Mae Denniston Wilson Harrington--would’ve been 105 years old today.
Why the National Prayer Breakfast Is So Dangerous
When Prayer Becomes A Weapon
Prayer is one of the most sacred spiritual practices. The act of prayer connects people directly to their higher power. Some United States citizens buy the propaganda our nation is grounded in judo-Christian values and beliefs.
Buying that propaganda helped propagate the myth that Christians corner the market on prayer’s power. It’s provided the infrastructure for a controversial event turning 70 this year--the National Prayer Breakfast.
The purportedly bipartisan event, begun in 1953, is more like a conference than breakfast. And it’s not necessarily that bipartisan. After all, the conservative Fellowship Foundation, AKA *The Family* organizes the event.
Journalist Jonathan Larsen, who writes for The Young Turks, reported in 2021 on claims evangelical faith leader Franklin Graham bankrolled the prayer breakfast. Graham didn’t deny those claims when pressed when Larsen sought comment.
Former Vice President Mike Pence helped underscore the event’s anti-LGBTQIA+ slant by claiming conversion therapy was effective on minors during the 2020 National Prayer Breakfast. Other speakers have compared being LGBTQIA+ with bestiality and sexual assault. Most attendees haven’t challenged these claims.
The Family also uses its platform to spread anti-LGBTQ ideology around the globe via international representatives. Their mission statement speaks volumes:
*> We believe that God created man & woman equal but different…and we stand firm against all forms of LGBT behavior outside traditional heterosexual marriage <*
The Family’s presence at The National Prayer Breakfast has facilitated partnerships between conservative operatives and oppressive regimes like Uganda. That cooperation yielded the *Kill The Gays* bill, which, ultimately, never became law.
Giving The Family such a robust platform with no real opposition only bolsters its homophobic agenda and puts the lives of LGBTQIA+ people worldwide in danger. That’s what prompted me, the founding executive director of Bayard Rustin Liberation Initiative, to join a coalition of secular organizations in opposing the breakfast.
My decision to join this coalition intrigued Larsen enough to prompt him to seek my input. He included a large chunk of my comments in a recent story about the National Prayer Breakfast.
The National Prayer Breakfast, which supports willful marginalization as a spiritual practice, is sacrilegious. This event has appropriated the power of prayer to build and exercise political power. That’s not what Jesus would do. Jesus himself denounced creating kingdoms on Earth.