Trump heard sermon on calling out hate speech at St. Patrick’s day church service

by Justin Wise - 03/18/19 2:44 PM ET

President Trump reportedly heard a sermon on hate speech when he attended a St. Patrick’s Day church service in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.

The Rev. W. Bruce McPherson urged people to condemn hate speech in his sermon at the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church just days after a gunman opened fire at a pair of New Zealand mosques, killing at least 50, according to CNN.

{mosads}In the 15-minute sermon, McPherson called on individuals to denounce hate speech because it is a “sin against Gospel,” CNN reported

“What can we do? Well, perhaps we’re called whenever we overhear or oversee hateful slurs against other people, perhaps we need the holy courage to call them out, because that’s just not us,” McPherson said in the sermon, the network noted.

“It takes courage I know,” he added. “But it’s up to us. Courage is contagious. And acting courageously especially in light of some kind of speech like that catches on and spreads.”

CNN added that McPherson also used the sermon to also highlight certain aspects of Islam, such as its daily prayer ritual, that he said prompted “holy envy.”

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for Sunday service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, across from the White House in Washington. #church #trump pic.twitter.com/uSzmF9CKYS

— Al Drago (@Al_Drago) March 17, 2019

Trump attended the 11 a.m. service with his wife, first lady Melania Trump. The president rarely attends church services, though he has done so in the past to mark holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

Trump is facing increasing calls to more forcefully denounce white supremacism and Islamophobia in light of the New Zealand terrorist attack. One of the suspects wrote a manifesto in which he called Trump a “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.

The president has called the shooting “senseless” and “horrific.” But he also pushed back on the idea that white nationalism is becoming a growing threat, saying that it is limited to “a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.”

He accused the media on Monday of “working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand.”

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