WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama says he’s praying for a return to civility in politics. The president used Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast to decry a politics of shouting pundits and lawmakers who pour spite on each other — and on him.

Obama said such demonization “poisons the well” of public opinion, adding to voter frustration and anger and giving the parties little room to negotiate. He says empowered by faith, Americans need to find their way back to civility. Also addressing the prayer breakfast was Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. He called for religious tolerance and the “moral autonomy” of individuals to seek their “own truth.”