Obama reflects on beliefs at prayer breakfast

In a pre-Easter prayer breakfast at the White House, President Obama
said Jesus' death and resurrection "puts everything else in
perspective." Using the kind of personal religious language he once
shied away from in public, Obama spoke of "the pain and the scorn and
the shame of the cross" at the April 19 gathering for about 150 guests
and staff.

"And we're reminded that in that moment, [Jesus] took
on the sins of the world—past, present and future—and he extended to us
that unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his death and
resurrection," Obama said.

The Easter event displayed the
president's willingness to engage religion on his own terms, even though
he has decided not to be a regular churchgoer or fully embrace public
events like the annual National Day of Prayer.