CALLING AGAINST an erosion of civility, President Barack Obama who addressed the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday at the Hilton Hotel International Ballroom in Washington DC, urged that political debates should not reduce disagreements on policy into questioning of one's motives. He also asked the politicians, foriegn dignitaries and religious leaders who had assembled for the event to "step outside (their) comfort zones, to bridge divisions and unite around common goals."

President Barack Obama said, "Those of us in Washington are not serving the people as well as we should. At times, it seems like we're unable to listen to one another, to have at once a serious and civil debate."

He added, "Challenging each other's ideas can renew our democracy. But when we challenge each other's motives, it becomes harder to see what we hold in common."

Defending his healthcare reform, he said, "We may disagree about the best way to reform our health-care system, but surely we can agree that no one ought to go broke when they get sick in the richest nation on Earth. We can take different approaches to ending inequality, but surely we can agree on the need to lift our children out of ignorance; to lift our neighbors from poverty. "

The National Prayer Breakfast, is a series of meetings, lunches and dinners that happen annually in Washington DC, on the first Thursday of February each year. It is organised by the Fellowship Foundation, a conservative Christian body.