On Thursday, President Barack Obama gathered amongst leaders for the National Prayer Breakfast, and tied an interesting proposal to his ever-vigilant faith. “The rich should pay more,” he remarked at the annual event that every president has attended since Dwight D. Eisenhower. “Not only because I actually think that it is going to make economic sense, but for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.” Speaking at the Washington Hilton, President Obama’s address was full of religious rhetoric that comes from a genuine place when given the opportunity to be shared.

The 44th Commander-in-Chief infused his remarks on spirituality with a populist message of economic fairness, echoing statements he unveiled in December in Osawatomie, Kansas, and returned to in his recent State of The Union address—all without countering his GOP opponents head on.

The separation of church and state has allowed for some strange bedfellows to influence the lawmakers in this country. While Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have had colorful remarks to make about the poor, will Christians be able to act as commanded in Hebrews 13:1 (“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters”)? Or will Washington continue with politics as usual in 2012?