Stuart Varney: Trump doesn't wear his religion on his sleeve, National Day of Prayer ceremony was a revelation

I'm Stuart Varney and this is “My Take.”

Thursday morning, President Trump appeared in the Rose Garden for the National Day of Prayer.  It was anything but a "normal" religious event. It wasn't a somber, restrained affair. It was a joyous call for unity, at a time when unity is vitally needed. It was a very different spiritual occasion.

For me the "highlight," if I may call it that, was the appearance of Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein. The president called him to the podium and he told the story of the Poway synagogue shooting where he had faced the killer.

He said, “you need to stand tall, to stand fast, and to do what it takes to change the world." No pieties there: reality! None of this "our thoughts and prayers are with you." That’s a platitude. Stand up. Face down hate. That’s what the rabbi said. That struck a chord: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus: all in the audience, and all understood the importance of what Rabbi Goldstein had said.

We also discovered that this president begins all cabinet meetings with a prayer. We didn't know that. We'd never been told. Mr. Trump clearly doesn't wear his religion on his sleeve. I'm not going to make a big deal out of this but we saw a side of the president that most of us didn't know.

We also discovered that this president begins all cabinet meetings with a prayer. We didn't know that. We'd never been told. Mr. Trump clearly doesn't wear his religion on his sleeve. I'm not going to make a big deal out of this but we saw a side of the president that most of us didn't know.

And this is the side of the president the media does not show. We covered the entire prayer event on Fox Business, and so too, did Fox News. No other media outlet did. Other news channels ignored it.  And there was barely a mention in the media on Friday morning.

What a shame: the prayer event was extraordinary. And timely, following the slaughter of Muslims in New Zealand, Christians in Sri Lanka, Jews in Pittsburgh and Poway. A call to spiritual unity that was exactly what was needed, and that’s exactly what President Trump delivered.

Adapted from Stuart Varney's "My Take" monologue for Fox Nation on May 3, 2019.