Greetings and welcome to the Daily Article podcast for Thursday, January the 23rd, 2025.

I'm Chris Elkins with the Denison Forum, narrating today's daily article written by our co-founder, CEO, and friend Dr. Jim Denison.

The presidential inaugural prayer service is a tradition that stretches back to 1933 and the inauguration

of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The service is held at the Washington National Cathedral, the second largest church building

in the U.S.

The cathedral is the seat of the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church

and the bishop of the Diocese of Washington. Since 2011, the latter role has been held by

Bishop Marianne Edgar Buddy, the first woman to serve in this position. In her sermon during

this year's service on Tuesday, the bishop made a direct appeal to President Trump.

Quote, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.

There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Republican, Democrat, and independent families,

some who fear for their lives.

Then, she spoke to the issue of illegal immigration and

deportation. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings who labor in poultry farms

and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night

shifts in hospitals, they, they may not be citizens or have proper documentation, but the vast majority

of immigrants are not criminals, they pay taxes, and are good neighbors.

Toward the end of her sermon, the bishop added,

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that

their parents will be taken away and that you help those

who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.

...