--- title: Prayer Breakfast: Obama Says Faith Is Stronger Than Fear description: President Obama drew on scripture to deliver a message that strong faith can assuage Americans' fears canonical: https://time.com/4207777/president-obama-national-prayer-breakfast/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-04T16:04:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:41:03.760Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Says Faith Is Stronger Than Fear at National Prayer Breakfast og:description: "Like every president, like every leader, like every person, I’ve known fear" og:url: https://time.com/4207777/president-obama-national-prayer-breakfast/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8453786889567c62/69887c23524fc01b1edf698f/508337614.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-RELIGION-OBAMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Says Faith Is Stronger Than Fear at National Prayer Breakfast twitter:description: "Like every president, like every leader, like every person, I’ve known fear" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8453786889567c62/69887c23524fc01b1edf698f/508337614.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Says Faith Is Stronger Than Fear at National Prayer Breakfast > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3ecd9b37-030e-45d5-8c8f-a8681dddc045&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Raw: Obama at National Prayer Breakfast [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Obama at National Prayer Breakfast](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hDMA3ARi.m3u8) (1:51)  _Published 2016-02-04_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 4, 2016 4:04 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 4, 2016 4:04 PM UTC President Obama urged Americans to turn to faith to assuage their fears amid a time of major changes in the country, in a speech at the [2016 National Prayer Breakfast](http://time.com/4202899/national-prayer-breakfast-history/) on Thursday. The President listed many sources of change in the world—from international conflicts to global warming to new technology—which he said have stoked uncertainties and fears that American progress will stall. But Obama said that faith offers a way of overcoming trepidation about the future. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind,” said Obama, drawing from a Bible verse in 2 Timothy. “Like every president, like every leader, like every person, I’ve known fear,” Obama added. “If scripture instructs me to put on the full armor of God, then surely I can take on these temporal setbacks.” The President’s speech did not directly reference the divisiveness that has permeated the political contest to replace him in the White House, but his administration has previously criticized Republican candidates for drawing on the fears of the American people in their quest for office. Obama sought to draw a contrast with that message of fear on Thursday, delivering an optimistic speech like the one he gave at [his final State of the Union last month](http://time.com/4176658/barack-obama-final-state-union-analysis/). In the days before the prayer breakfast, Obama visited the Israeli Embassy to honor people who saved Jews during the Holocaust and [made his first visit to a U.S. mosque while in office](http://time.com/4206634/obama-mosque-muslims-american-family/). Both trips informed his speech on Thursday, in which he recalled stories that were relayed to him at each stop, drawing on the theme of not giving in to fear. “I pray,” Obama said after telling the stories, “ that by His grace we all find the courage to set such examples in our own lives.” ## Transcript It is my honor to introduce the President of the United States. Thank you. Thank you. THank you, thanks again . >> Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much. Giving all praise and honor to God for Bring us together here this morning. I wanna thank everyone who helped organize this breakfast, especially our co- chairs Robert, Juan. Who embody the tradition of friendship, fellowship and prayer. I would begin with a confession. I have always felt a tinge of guilt motorcading up here at the heart of DC's rush hour. [ LAUGH ] I suspect that not All the commuters were blessing me [ LAUGH ] as they waited to get to work. Some of you may be aware I visited the mosque in Baltimore, [ BLANK_AUDIO ] to let our Muslim American brothers and sisters know that They too are Americans. His love gives us the power to resist fierce temptations. He gives us the courage to reach out to others across that divide. Rather than push people away. He gives us the courage to go against the conventional wisdom and stand up for what's right, even when it's not popular. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4207777/president-obama-national-prayer-breakfast/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4207777/president-obama-national-prayer-breakfast/"},"headline":"President Obama Says Faith Is Stronger Than Fear at National Prayer Breakfast","datePublished":"2016-02-04T16:04:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:41:03.760Z","description":"\"Like every president, like every leader, like every person, I’ve known fear\"","url":"https://time.com/4207777/president-obama-national-prayer-breakfast/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8453786889567c62/69887c23524fc01b1edf698f/508337614.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8453786889567c62/69887c23524fc01b1edf698f/508337614.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-RELIGION-OBAMA","caption":"US-POLITICS-RELIGION-OBAMA","creditText":"MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4207777/president-obama-national-prayer-breakfast/","name":"President Obama Says Faith Is Stronger Than Fear at National Prayer Breakfast"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Obama at National Prayer Breakfast","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hDMA3ARi/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-04T16:46:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hDMA3ARi.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4207777/president-obama-national-prayer-breakfast/","duration":"PT1M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4207777/president-obama-national-prayer-breakfast/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```