US president Joe Biden has urged Democrats and Republicans to use faith as something that can bring them together and unify for the common good.

Biden was speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, an annual event attended by more than 3,000 guests and organised by Christian organisation, The Fellowship Foundation.

Politicians and business leaders gather in a series of meetings, luncheons, and dinners to talk and pray together.

During his speech, Biden said that "rather than driving us apart, faith can move us together," while arguing that all different faiths have the "same fundamental basic beliefs" to treat one another with kindness.

He said he hopes Democrats and Republicans would have "faith to see each other as we should – not as enemies but as neighbours, not as adversaries but as fellow Americans."

"I pray that we follow what Jesus taught us – to serve rather than be served," Biden said. "I don't always do it. [But] I try."

The devout Catholic also shared how he, as a member of the Senate, would often have lunch with fellow members of Congress and learn about their struggles.

"It's hard to really dislike someone when you know that they're going through the same thing you have gone through," Biden said.

"... As leaders of this nation who work and pray together, there's an oath to God and country to uphold, and a charge to keep, to stand in the breach, and to protect our democracy, to work together to right wrongs. … If a house divided cannot stand, surely a house united can do anything."

Biden closed his speech by sharing a personal story about his childhood.

"Every time I'd walk out of my Grandpa Finnegan's house up in Scranton ... He yelled 'Joey, keep the faith.' My grandma would yell, 'No Joey, spread it.'

"Let's go spread the faith," Biden concluded.