This past week my wife, Lauri, and I were honored to attend The 56th Annual National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) in D.C. Since the Eisenhower Administation, the sitting President of the United States has attended this event along with ordinary men and women, public figures, heads of state, and various other noteables. Indeed, even presidential hopeful John McCain took time out of his campaign (or was it part of it?) to attend, making a grand entrance with his potential running mate, Senator Joseph Lieberman.

Sitting on the dais (in addition to the President and First Lady) were Senators Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.), Ken Salazar (D., Colo.), Dianne Feinstein (D., Cal.), and Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.); Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen; musician, Michael W. Smith; and businessman and keynote speaker, Ward Brehm.

If you think that an eclectic gathering of this kind might be vague when it comes to identifying the entity to whom prayers are directed, your skepticism is not altogether misplaced. Some of the prayers were quite vague and, I suspect, deliberately so. Were they praying to some unnamed Higher Power? Allah? Or to God the Father in the name of His only Son, Jesus Christ? In a few instances, I was reasonably certain that it was not the latter. At another NPB gathering latter that day, former Cardinal Archbishop of D.C., Theodore McCarrick, essentially stated that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the same god. Some prayers at the NPB were undoubtedly spoken with this philosophy in view.

That the Cardinal Archbishop made such a remark is disappointing, especially since he should know better. Perhaps it was made in an effort to cultivate a sense of unity and reconciliation among his listeners. He is presently engaged in an effort to bring peace to the three major religions in and around Jerusalem and unity is his noble goal.

One may reasonably wonder at the price such harmony is purchased. A unity that affirms no doctrine or creed is shallow and affirms nothing at all but unity for its own sake. It is frequently obtained at the expense of truth itself. Unity, be it Christian or otherwise, must have a foundation. It must begin with a consensus. Adherents must declare "We hold these truths to be self evident ..."

The unity one experiences among the some 4,000 attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast is not of the lasting sort. Nor can it be without tremendous compromise from somebody, since everyone cannot be right. I am doubtful that Senator Feinstein abandoned her convictions to join her adversaries across the aisle, that an atheist embraced faith, or that any Jews or Muslims converted to Christianity as a result of breakfast with the President. Democrats and Republicans, Jews and Muslims and Christians -- there is a gulf that separates these groups and no enduring unity will ever be achieved among them unless it is based upon something real and true.

And that is, I think, evidenced by the NPB itself. The unity, however brief it may be, that one experiences there is due to the foundation all in attendance are called upon to acknowledge: the sublime nature of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, there were plenty of remarks that did not have Christ or the Bible as their source or even as their inspiration. But those who made them were not, I suspect, Christians. Others, in a spirit of gentleness and respect (II Peter 3:15), affirmed the Christian message: Michael W. Smith sang "Amazing Grace"; Admiral Mullen read Philippians 4:8-9; and Ward Brehm spoke of how God has changed his life through his interaction with the poor of Africa. At another NPB function, Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver spoke and prayed boldly in the name of Jesus Christ.

What one sees at the National Prayer Breakfast offers us a glimpse, albeit a fleeting and somewhat artificial one, of true unity. That such an event like the NPB exists and aspires to bring people together in the name of our Lord is a good thing so long as Christians themselves do not make egregious compromises of their faith. And I was not witness to compromises of this sort. The organizers of the event have accomplished something special and unique: opening an essentially Christian gathering to those of other faiths (or non-faith), but doing so without sacrificing the Truth or integrity of the Gospel.

In his remarks, President Bush, nodding toward Senator John McCain, said "Every President since Dwight Eisenhower has attended the National Prayer Breakfast -- and I am really proud to carry on that tradition. It's an important tradition, and I'm confident Presidents who follow me will do the same." It is a tradition worth keeping. It reminds us of who we are, of our roots, and of our need for the One True God's intervention in our lives individually and as a nation.