Amen, But Not Enough — Zake's Moral Rebuke
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Cardinal Patrick leads a prayer at the White House breakfast, invoking divine guidance for President Bartlet and specifically mentioning the violence in Equatorial Khundu and the need for the safe evacuation of American missionaries.
Archbishop Zake Kintaka challenges the prayer's efficacy, asserting that only U.S. intervention can prevent the mass slaughter of Khundunese children, escalating the moral urgency of the situation.
Bartlet acknowledges the limited and sketchy intelligence he received about the violence in Khundu, revealing a gap in the administration's awareness of the crisis's scope.
Zake directly confronts Bartlet with a pointed question about racial bias in U.S. intelligence, implying that the response would be different if the crisis were in Europe.
Bartlet straightforwardly admits that the U.S. intelligence response would indeed differ for a European crisis, acknowledging a possible double standard.
Zake concludes by reiterating his prayers for the Americans' safety while the underlying tension about racial bias and inaction remains unresolved.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
From solemn and prayerful to attentive and unsettled as the moral confrontation unfolds.
Various clerical attendees stand for the invocation, respond with an 'Amen', then sit to eat; they become witnesses to the confrontation, shifting from reverent participants to an uneasy audience during Zake's rebuke.
- • to participate in the prayer breakfast ritual
- • to support the missionaries through prayer
- • to witness the exchange between clergy and the President
- • prayer is an appropriate response to crisis
- • religious gatherings are legitimate venues for moral appeals
- • the President should be receptive to faith community concerns
Concerned and defensive on the surface; intellectually engaged but unsettled by the moral charge and the limits of his information.
President Bartlet is physically present at the breakfast, receives Zake's public rebuke, answers directly that he received a "very sketchy" intelligence report an hour earlier and concedes he wasn't aware violence had spread — momentarily defensive and exposed.
- • to acknowledge the clergy without inviting a political firefight
- • to gather and clarify intelligence while preserving presidential credibility
- • to deflect escalation while appearing morally responsive
- • accurate intelligence is necessary before committing action
- • the U.S. has a special responsibility to protect its citizens
- • moral appeals from clergy should be heard but cannot substitute for operational facts
Solemn and concerned, but restrained — seeking to pray and avoid inflaming political confrontation.
Cardinal Patrick leads the invocation asking for counsel for the President and prays explicitly for evacuation of 500 missionaries; when Zake accuses the administration he responds calmly that he does not control the armed forces, marking a pastoral limit to clerical influence.
- • to provide spiritual support and a formal invocation for the President
- • to keep the breakfast a place of prayer rather than partisan attack
- • to advocate for the missionaries within pastoral bounds
- • prayer is the clergy's primary tool and sphere
- • spiritual leaders should not presume control of military decisions
- • moral appeals should be voiced but within institutional limits
Angry, outraged and unflinching — using moral authority to shame and press for action.
Archbishop Zake Kintaka interrupts the post-prayer meal, accuses the administration of inaction and racial double standards, amplifies the scope of violence beyond Bitanga, and directly challenges Bartlet with a rhetorical question about a European crisis.
- • to force public acknowledgment and accountability for Khundu
- • to shame the administration into prioritizing intervention
- • to raise the moral visibility of Khundunese victims
- • moral leadership requires concrete action, not just prayer
- • there exists a racial double standard in international response
- • religious leaders have a duty to publicly hold political power to account
Implied fear and vulnerability; they function as moral leverage in the room's debate.
The American missionaries are referenced by Patrick and Zake as 500 citizens and children in imminent danger in Khundu; they are not present but are the human object of the prayer and the rebuke.
- • to be evacuated to safety (implied)
- • to be remembered and prioritized by policymakers
- • reliance on U.S. government to protect its citizens abroad
- • moral weight of children and missionaries should compel action
Implied suffering and victimhood; their plight catalyzes the moral challenge posed by clergy.
Khundunese civilians are invoked as victims of 'horrible violence' and mass slaughter; they are not present but are central to the moral accusation driving the confrontation.
- • to survive the violence (implied)
- • to be recognized and protected by the international community (implied)
- • their lives matter and warrant intervention
- • silence or delay equals complicity
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
White House prayer breakfast tables are physically central: attendees stand around them during the invocation, they are set with plates of food that anchor the ritual, and after the prayer the participants sit to eat — visually marking the shift from liturgy to ordinary domestic action while the moral confrontation unfolds.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The 'capitol' is referenced by Bartlet as the place mentioned in his sketchy intelligence briefing; it functions as the originally reported epicenter and as evidence of the administration's limited situational awareness.
The Republic of Equatorial Khundu functions as the distant site of humanitarian catastrophe referenced repeatedly; it is the moral and policy object of the prayer, the clergy's plea, and Zake's accusation.
The White House prayer breakfast room is the immediate stage for the event: a ceremonial, enclosed space where ritual invocation and informal meals occur, and where a private moral rebuke becomes public theater confronting presidential authority.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The category 'Americans' (as a civic referent) functions rhetorically in the event — the missionaries are invoked as American citizens whose safety is a primary obligation of the state, shaping the moral calculus of the exchange.
The Bartlet Administration is the target of Archbishop Zake's public challenge; it is represented by the President and exists here as an institutional actor whose intelligence gaps and priorities are being morally interrogated by religious leaders.
The White House Prayer Breakfast Clergy function as a collective moral constituency: their invocation frames the meeting, they supply the venue for public moral pressure, and through Archbishop Zake one faction moves from prayer to direct political accusation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Zake's question about racial bias echoes in Bartlet's later reflection on why a Khundunese life is valued less than an American life."
"Zake's question about racial bias echoes in Bartlet's later reflection on why a Khundunese life is valued less than an American life."
"Zake's question about racial bias echoes in Bartlet's later reflection on why a Khundunese life is valued less than an American life."
"Zake's question about racial bias echoes in Bartlet's later reflection on why a Khundunese life is valued less than an American life."
Key Dialogue
"CARDINAL PATRICK: "Heavenly Father, assist with your spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of the Untied states, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to your people over whom he presides. And we ask this morning for the safe evacuation of the 500 American missionaries and their children in the Republic of Equatorial Khundu and for the people of Khundu, where horrible violence has broken out. We pray to you, who are Lord our God, forever and ever. Amen.""
"ARCHBISHOP ZAKE KINTAKA: "Patrick, you may pray all you wish, but thousands upon thousands African children will die unnless the U.S. intervenes. Tens of thousand of Khundunese children and their parents slaughtered.""
"ARCHBISHOP ZAKE KINTAKA: "If mass genocide had broken out in a small European country, would your intelligence briefing this morning have been quite so sketchy?" BARTLET: "No.""