STREAMING LIVE: President Obama Makes It to the National Prayer Breakfast

White House officials, lawmakers from Capitol Hill, and leaders of countries from around the world were among the thousands of guests in Washington Thursday for the National Prayer Breakfast.

It is a tradition that dates all the way back to the days of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A prayer breakfast where faith and politics purposefully intersect.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is a member of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, which hosts the annual event. She says its purpose is clear.

"The whole focus of this event is Jesus Christ, and we share our faith around the table and usually it's with people from all around the world," Bachmann said.

This year in President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, his focus was on civility and how Americans can work together in a spirit of good will.

Last year, during the prayer breakfast, the president unveiled his version of the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

"The goal of this office will not to be to favor one religious group over another or even religious groups over secular groups," Obama said. "It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities."

Two years ago, his predecessor, George W. Bush, emphasized the power of prayer, and how God will answer those who seek him.

"It's fitting that we gather in prayer, because we recognize a prayerful nation is a stronger nation," Bush said.

This commemoration of faith is not free of conflict.

A group promoting government accountability demanded that the president and members of Congress not attend, describing the Christian group that organizes the event as "shadowy" and "cult-like."

However, Bachmann said prayer is steeped in American heritage.

"I think it's important people acquaint themselves with our nation's history and not forget that in order for our nation to be strong, individuals have to be strong. And as members of Congress many of us find our strength in the Bible, in the Word of God," she said.

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Obama prays for 'God's grace' to fill the 'space between us'

The annual National Prayer Breakfast was held this morning in Washington. As we've said, President Obama attended -- and he's using this day to make some faith-related announcements.

He's creating an Advisory Council on Faith, and he's naming Joshua DuBois (who ran candidate Obama's faith-based outreach efforts) to head a renamed White House Office for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The Associated Press adds that the president will also today "ask for a legal review of the White House faith-based office before deciding whether to allow federally funded religious groups to hire only their own."

We followed the event in this post. Click your "refresh" button to see our latest additions.

And, Christianity Today's Sarah Pulliam was at the breakfast and "twittered" from there. You can follow her reports here or here.

Update at 9:11 a.m. ET. As he finished, the president called on Americans to work together:

"As St. Augustine once said, 'Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.'

"So let us pray together on this February morning, but let us also work together in all the days and months ahead. For it is only through common struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our highest purpose as beloved children of God. I ask you to join me in that effort, and I also ask that you pray for myself, for Michelle, for my family, and for the continued perfection of our union."

Update at 9:08 a.m. ET. "This is my prayer":

"I'm not naive," President Obama says. "I don't expect divisions to disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will suddenly vanish. ... But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, and perhaps allow God's grace to enter that space between us, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding.

"This is my hope. This is my prayer."

Update at 9:03 a.m. ET. "There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being," the president says:

"Far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another -â€" as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance," President Obama says. "Wars have been waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness.

"There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we are going next â€" and some subscribe to no faith at all.

"But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know."

Update at 8:58 a.m. ET: Former British prime minister Tony Blair just finished his keynote address. President Obama will speak next.

Update at 8:56 a.m. ET. More from the president's prepared remarks -- on the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships:

"Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I'm announcing later today.

"The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another â€"- or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state.

"This work is important, because whether it's a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what's happening on our streets and in our neighborhoods than these organizations. People trust them. Communities rely on them. And we will help them."

Update at 8:55 a.m. ET. The White House just released a copy of the president's prepared remarks, and we've posted it here. He plans to talk of the Golden Rule:

"Whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to 'love thy neighbor as thyself.' The Torah commands, 'That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.'

" In Islam, there is a hadith that reads 'None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.' And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists.

"It is, of course, the Golden Rule -â€" the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth."

Update at 8:48 a.m. ET: Former British prime minister Tony Blair tells of an early spiritual moment in his life. His father, an atheist, was seriously ill. The young Blair and a teacher knelt to pray. Blair told the teacher his father didn't believe in God. " 'That doesn't matter,' my teacher replied, G'od believes in him,' " Blair says.

Update at 8:43 a.m. ET: "Mr. President, we salute you and we wish you well," former British prime minister Tony Blair says to Obama as he begins his keynote address.

He then jokes that he didn't get his first cellphone until after he left office -- unlike Obama, who gets to keep his handheld device as president.

Update at 8:40 a.m. ET: Former British prime minister Tony Blair is about to deliver the morning's keynote address.

Update at 8:38 a.m. ET: Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., prays for God's help in ensuring that lawmakers "seek your aid through all of our days."

Update at 8:34 a.m. ET: The newest member of the Senate, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, is offering a reading.

Update at 8:29 a.m. ET: The co-chairs of the Senate's weekly prayer breakfast, Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Republican Johnny Isakson of Georgia, are at the podium. Isakson says the senators meet each Wednesday, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as "Americans with a deep and abiding faith in God."

Update at 8:28 a.m. ET: "Help them to fulfill their sacred pledge," Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., asks God in his "prayer for national leaders."

Update at 8:25 a.m. ET: Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., is delivering a "prayer for national leaders."

Update at 8:17 a.m. ET: The president and first lady Michelle Obama are at the head table. So far, there have been introductions and some music.

Source: "The Oval" USA TODAY