At Prayer Breakfast, Guests Seek Access to a Different Higher Power

The New York Times‘ Kenneth P. Vogel and Elizabeth Dias report on how foreign nationals forge ties with American officials at the annual National Prayer breakfast. They write, “Their presence at the breakfast illuminates the way the annual event has become an international influence-peddling bazaar, where foreign dignitaries, religious leaders, diplomats and lobbyists jockey for access to the highest reaches of American power.” Maria Butina, a Russian who has attended the breakfast, was recently indicted and “charged with conspiring to act as a Russian agent.”

Read at The New York Times

© 2011 Religion & Politics