Joseph Farah Removed From Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast
Joseph Farah, the CEO and chief editor of the conservative website WorldNetDaily, who has questioned President Barack Obama's birth record, has been removed from the guest list of the sixth Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast which will take place on Jan. 21.
Merrie Turner, who founded and has hosted the event since 1993, shared with Media Matters that Farah had incorrectly been listed as a featured guest on the list, which includes most notably Rep. Michele Bachmann and televangelist Pat Robertson.
"It is against my beliefs to be openly targeting someone like the president of our country, we have enough enemies outside the country," Turner shared with Media Matters. "It was incorrectly picked up by our staff, I am going to be correcting that."
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While not an official event of the 2013 inaugural ceremonies, the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast brings together faith and conservative leaders in America to pray for the president and the nation.
"God called us in 1993 to begin to host an event to bring together people of faith to pray for the nation in the office of the presidency," Turner explained in an interview on Friday with Robertson on his CBN program "The 700 Club."
Turner said that the theme for this year's prayer breakfast comes from Esther 4:14 and shared how she has also advocated in the past for the unborn. "In a similar way, God is calling us to stand for the soul of this nation right now and if we don't do it, then help will arise from somewhere else. We're going to take communion on inauguration morning and God is going to rededicate this nation to Himself and so it's a unique opportunity to come together and stand with others across denomination and party lines."
Turner added that while it is not yet confirmed whether President Barack Obama will have time to stop by the event, representatives of the inaugural prayer breakfast office are meeting with officials from the president's faith-based office.
Farah's WorldNetDaily website had been behind some conspiracy theories targeted at President Obama, such as questioning whether he really was born in the United States of America, and questioning the legitimacy of his office.
Turner apparently told Media Matters that she was not aware of Farah's work trying to expose President Obama.
"He was not invited to be involved. He had permission to write an article about it and it's gone much further than that. That was the initial intent, I never met him before and I didn't know anything about his efforts," Turner said.
The Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast host clarified that the event is no way intended to be negative about President Obama, and it's purpose is to unite, rather than to divide America.
The event, taking place in Washington, D.C., on Monday morning, will feature Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, best-selling author of The Harbinger, as the key note speaker whose topic is the prophetic destiny of America. Other guests included Pat Boone, Sen. Roy Blunt, and Dick Simmons.
