On Tuesday night, Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican from Maryland who serves as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, appeared on "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins" of the Family Research Council to promote an upcoming prayer event being organized by the two organizations.
On Thursday, Perkins announced that he and FRC will be joined by Harris, various members of Congress, and other religious-right activists for a "Congress Prays for America" call during which they intend to pray for, among other things, "a Christian agenda in Washington."
"We're going to be hosting a national prayer call this Thursday to pray for the nation," said Perkins. "You and the Freedom Caucus recognize that we're at a point where we need prayer. Speak to that."
"That's absolutely right," Harris replied. "We start at each and every meeting of the Freedom Caucus or the board meetings with a prayer. We frequently close with a prayer. Look, this country needs God's help. They have to turn back to God and we are; it's slow, but we need to keep that progress going and so we're gonna join on that prayer call. We're gonna ask all Americans to pray for an end to political violence, to pray for our president, to pray for a Christian agenda in Washington. It's long overdue. We need it. And we think it's an important step."
"We're gonna be praying for the president, praying for Congress as they wrestle through this [shutdown], and we're gonna be praying for Israel because that continues to be in the news and it's one of those issues America needs to get right," Perkins added. "There will be a number of the Freedom Caucus members joining us. There will be some key pastors from across the country gathering with us to pray."
"We hope that God hears our prayers, that he brings his blessings upon this country," Harris declared. "This country has been blessed plenty, but we need God's help if we're gonna get through what we're going through now, the push toward actually acceptance of communism by a growing number of Americans. We can't have this, and we're gonna ask for God's help, and I believe that God will help America because we are a righteous nation."
