President Obama says nobody should ‘fear for their safety’ to pray

President Barack Obama used his remarks at the White House Easter Prayer Breakfast to call for Americans to fight religious-based bigotry and intolerance one day after a former Ku Klux Klan leader allegedly shot and killed three people at Jewish centers in Overland Park, Kan.

President Barack Obama bows his head as Pastor Joel Hunter gives the opening prayer during the Easter Prayer Breakfast in the East Room of the White House, April 14, 2014. Sitting with President Obama is Dr. Otis Moss. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

“Nobody should have to worry about their security when gathering with their fellow believers,” Obama said. “No one should ever have to fear for their safety when they go to pray.”

Police said Frazier Glenn Miller, said to be a former “grand dragon” with the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, killed two people at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City and then killed another person at the Village Shalom Retirement Center.

Obama pointed out that the shooting occurred during a holy time for both Jews and Christians. Two of the victims, a grandfather and his teenage grandson, attended the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection and were at the community center for an event.

“As a government, we’re going to provide whatever assistance is needed to support the investigation,” Obama said. “As Americans, we not only need to open our hearts to the families of the victims, we’ve got to stand united against this kind of terrible violence, which has no place in our society, and we have to keep coming together across faiths to combat the ignorance and intolerance, including anti-Semitism that can lead to hatred and to violence, because we’re all children of God.”

Read the President’s full remarks from today’s prayer breakfast