Asking for mercy, even from a president, isn’t grounds for apology, Las Vegas pastor says

The Rev. Kelcey West, senior pastor at Nehemiah Ministries in Las Vegas, knows when the national climate becomes stark, people often resort to invoking a higher power, finding solace in phrases like “In God we trust,” or “May God bless America.”

“If we’re going to make that statement, it then becomes difficult for me as a pastor to understand how and why we pick and choose when we’re going to bring politics and religion together,” West said.

West’s reflection on the line between politics and religion comes on the heels of President Donald Trump demanding an apology from the Episcopal bishop of the diocese of Washington for using her sermon during an inaugural prayer service to appeal to his administration to have mercy on the gay community and those in the United States illegally.

“President, millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God,” the Right Rev. Mariann Budde said in an address Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral. “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared.”

The fear Budde referenced stems from Trump’s promises to lead the largest mass deportation project in the country, a cause his executive orders are already funneling forward, and his Day 1 roll back of transgender rights via executive order.

The president took to his Truth Social site to say Budde was “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” who owes the public an apology.

“She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way,” Trump wrote. “She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”

In an interview with Time magazine, Budde said, “I am not going to apologize for asking for mercy for others.”

West said he had stood on numerous political stages with invitations listing clear and concise instructions, so ensuring he’s in agreement with those rules is important for him before he accepts.

“I’m not opposed to the conversation of mercy,” West said. “... I don’t know if that opportunity was the right moment to have a personal conversation with your president.”

Still, he doesn’t agree with Trump’s request for Budde to apologize.

“She felt convicted to say what she said, and so to come back and apologize, or to ask her to apologize, when we live in a country where people say and do a lot of things that they never come back to apologize for, that’s almost hypocritical,” West said.

He added: “Going back to the sentiments of the bishop, to ensure that all people receive water, are fed or clothed — that’s mercy.”

While he disapproved of Budde’s message, Trump is no stranger to intertwining religion and politics. As he was running for presidency last year, he headlined conservative organizing group Turning Point Action’s “Believers Summit” and told the attendees, “We’re going to be talking a little bit about a wonderful thing called religion tonight.”

“Christians get out and vote just this time, you won’t have to do it anymore,” Trump said “Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”

He has also shared on multiple occasions his belief that divine intervention saved his life for a greater purpose when a shooter clipped his ear at a July 2024 rally in Butler, Pa.; and he’s not alone in holding that conviction.

“What’s happened over the past month since the debate, and particularly on Saturday in Butler, I think a lot of people are wondering, ‘What is this? This doesn’t look like politics,’” commentator Tucker Carlson said on the Republican National Convention stage a week after Trump survived the attack. “Something bigger is going on here. I think even people who don’t believe in God are beginning to think, ‘Maybe there’s something to this, actually.’”

Roberta Sabbath, assistant professor-in-residence at UNLV, where she teaches religion and literature, explained why people make comments like Carlson’s regarding Trump.

“Many people see Trump as their hero,” Sabbath said “He certainly has a messianic message.”

Sabbath added that the role of religion in politics isn’t specific to Trump nor is it new. Rather, she said, religion in politics is a staple in how the country operates.

Budde espoused one aspect of the religious leaders’ views on Trump; others touch on another attitude — like advocating for deportations and LGBTQ+ rollbacks.

“It has always been there, and it has created, sometimes unanimity, sometimes just discourse,” Sabbath said. “For example, an interpretation of the Bible. There were both abolitionists reading the Bible, and there were slaveholders reading the Bible to get their justification for slavery or for abolition of slavery.”

After 19 years as the pastor at Nehemiah, West is still figuring out how to navigate the relationship between politics and religion.

“When candidates are running for office, where do they come to talk to their voters? They come to the church, and they don’t come to the parking lot, they come inside the church,” West said. “And so that’s a tough call to say we’re going to keep politics away from religion.