[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 861-863]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  REMARKS OF SENATOR JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN AT THE 48TH NATIONAL PRAYER 
                               BREAKFAST

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 8, 2000

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, last Thursday morning the 48th National 
Prayer Breakfast was held here in Washington. This annual event dates 
to 1952 when the first gathering was held to pray for President-elect 
Dwight Eisenhower and his administration. Each year since 1952, the 
President and Vice President,

[[Page 862]]

Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Congress, international government 
leaders, clergy and others have met to reaffirm their faith and to seek 
divine guidance in making critical decisions.
  At the National Prayer Breakfast last week, our colleague from the 
Senate, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, was one of the principal 
speakers, and his remarks were outstanding. Mr. Speaker, I ask that 
Senator Lieberman's remarks be placed in the Record, and I urge my 
colleagues in the House to give his speech careful and thoughtful 
attention.

  Remarks of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman at the 48th National Prayer 
                               Breakfast

       Mr. President and Mrs. Clinton, Speaker Hastert, Reverend 
     Clergy, Nuncio Montalvo, Dr. Graham, General and Mrs. 
     Ralston, other head table guests and honored guests in the 
     hall, ladies and gentlemen: To each and every one of you I 
     say, Blessed be they who come in the name of the Lord.
       This morning, in this place, this very temporal city comes 
     together to reach up to touch the timeless. It brings to mind 
     the story of the man who is blessed to be able to speak with 
     G-d, and in awe of the Lord's freedom from human constraints 
     of time and space, he asks: ``Lord, what is a second like to 
     you?''
       And G-d answers, ``A second to me is like a thousand 
     years.''
       The man then asks, ``And Lord, what is a penny like to 
     you?''
       ``To me,'' the Lord declares, ``a penny is a like a million 
     dollars.''
       The man pauses, thinks for a minute, and then asks, ``Lord, 
     would you give me a penny?''
       And G-d answers, ``I will. In a second.''
       I am honored to have been asked to speak to you this 
     morning, but as the story shows, I proceed with a profound 
     sense of my own human limitations.
       I want to begin by talking with you about the weekly Senate 
     Prayer Breakfasts--those still-small gatherings that have, 
     along with their counterpart in the House, spawned this 
     magnificent National Prayer Breakfast as well as similar 
     meetings in every American state and so many countries around 
     the world.
       When I was first invited years ago to the Senate Prayer 
     Breakfast, I found a lot of excuses not to go. Some were 
     good--like my reluctance to leave my family so early on a 
     weekday morning. But some excuses were not-so-good--like my 
     apprehension that the Senate Prayer Breakfast was really a 
     Christian breakfast and that, because I am Jewish, I might 
     feel awkward or my presence might inhibit my Christian 
     friends in their expressions of faith. I was wrong on both 
     counts.
       The regular participants in the breakfast, and our 
     wonderful chaplain, Lloyd Ogilvie, persisted and finally 
     convinced me to attend by employing a tactic that usually 
     works with us politicians: they asked me to be the speaker.
       That was a very important morning in my now 11 years in 
     Washington. We began with prayer and readings from the bible 
     and then called on the chaplain, who told us about some 
     people in the Senate family we might want to pray for, 
     because they were ill or had lost loved ones. Then it was my 
     turn. I spoke about the Passover holiday and answered some 
     very thoughtful questions. At the end, we joined hands and 
     prayed together.
       All in all, it lasted less than an hour, but I was moved 
     that morning. More than that, I felt at home.
       Today, I can tell you that the weekly Prayer Breakfasts 
     have become the time in my hectic life in the Senate when I 
     feel most at home, most tied to a community. Because we are 
     at those breakfasts not as Senators; not as Republicans or 
     Democrats, or liberals or conservatives; not even 
     particularly as Christians or Jews. We are there as men and 
     women of faith linked by a bond that transcends all the other 
     descriptors and dividers--our shared love of G-d and 
     acceptance of His Sovereignty over us, and our common 
     commitment to try to live according to the universal moral 
     laws of the Lord.
       I pray that all of you who have come here this morning feel 
     those same unifying, humanizing, elevating sentiments. And I 
     also pray, as we begin this new session of Congress, that 
     your presence will inspire those of us who are privileged to 
     serve in government to appreciate the truth that is so 
     palpable at these breakfasts: What unites us is much greater 
     than what divides us.
       The work that needs to be done for the people we in 
     government serve will best be done if we work together, and 
     we will work together best if we understand that we are 
     blessed not only to be citizens of the same beloved country, 
     but children of the same awesome G-d.
       Praying for the Lord's guidance and strength as we begin a 
     new Congress has been the traditional purpose of this 
     National Prayer Breakfast. But there is another stated 
     aspiration and that is ``to reaffirm our faith and renew the 
     dedication of our Nation and ourselves to God and his 
     purposes.'' I want to speak with you about that second goal 
     this morning because I believe it is critically important at 
     this moment in our national history when our economic life is 
     thriving, but our moral life is stagnating. Although so much 
     is so good in our country today, there are other ways in 
     which we desperately need to do better. There is compelling 
     evidence, for example, that our culture has coarsened; that 
     our standards of decency and civility have eroded; and that 
     the traditional sources of values in our society--faith, 
     family, and community--are in a life-and-death struggle with 
     the darker forces of immorality, inhumanity, and greed.
       From the beginning of our existence, we Americans have 
     known where to turn in such times of moral challenge. ``Our 
     Constitution was made only for a moral and religious 
     people,'' John Adams wrote. George Washington warned us never 
     to ``indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained 
     without religion.'' That is why we pledge our allegiance to 
     ``one nation under G-d.'' And why faith has played such a 
     central role in our nation's history. Great spiritual 
     awakenings have brought strength and purpose to the American 
     experience. In the 18th Century, the first Great Awakening 
     put America on the road to independence, freedom, and 
     equality. In the 19th Century, the Second Awakening gave 
     birth to the abolitionist movement, which removed the stain 
     of slavery from American life and made the promise of 
     equality more real. And in the early 20th Century, a third 
     religious awakening led to great acts of justice and charity 
     toward the poor and the exploited, which expressed themselves 
     ultimately in a progressive burst of social legislation.
       In recent years, I believe, there have been clear signs of 
     a new American spiritual awakening. This one began in the 
     hearts of millions of Americans who felt threatened by the 
     vulgarity and violence in our society, and turned to religion 
     as the best way to rebuild a wall of principle and purpose 
     around themselves and their families. Christians flocked to 
     their churches, Jews to their synagogues, Muslims to their 
     Mosques, and Buddhists and Hindus to their temples. Others 
     chose alternate spiritual movements as their way to values, 
     order, and peace of mind. It has been as if millions of 
     modern men and women were hearing the ancient voice of the 
     prophet Hosea saying, ``Thou hast stumbled in thine iniquity 
     . . . Therefore, turn to thy G-d . . . keep mercy and 
     justice.''
       This morning, I want to ask all who are here to think about 
     how we can strengthen and expand the current spiritual 
     awakening so it not only inspires us individually and within 
     our separate faith communities, but also renews and elevates 
     the moral and cultural life of our nation?
       Let me suggest that we begin by talking more to each other 
     about our beliefs and our values, talking in the spirit of 
     this prayer breakfast--open, generous, and mutually 
     respectful--so that we may strengthen each other in our 
     common quest. The Catholic theologian, Michael Novak, has 
     written wisely: "
       ``Americans are starved for good conversations about 
     important matters of the human spirit. In Victorian England, 
     religious devotion was not a forbidden topic of conversation, 
     sex was. In America today, the inhibitions are reversed.''
       So let us break through those inhibitions to talk together, 
     study together, and pray together, remembering the call in 
     Chronicles to ``give thanks to G-d, to declare His name and 
     make His acts known among the peoples . . . to sing to Him 
     and speak of all His wonders.''
       We who believe and observe have an additional opportunity 
     and responsibility to reach out to those who may neither 
     believe nor observe, to reassure them that we share with them 
     the core values of America, that our faith is not 
     inconsistent with their freedom, and that our values do not 
     make us intolerant of their differences.
       Discussion, study, and prayer are only the beginning, 
     because we know that in the end we will be judged by our 
     behavior. In the Koran, the Prophet says: ``So woe to the 
     praying ones who are unmindful of their prayer--and refrain 
     from acts of kindness.'' Isaiah summarizes the Torah in two 
     acts: ``Keep justice and do righteousness.'' And the 
     Beatitudes inspire and direct us: ``Blessed are they who 
     hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be 
     filled; blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. 
     Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see G-d. Blessed 
     are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of 
     G-d.''
       Turning faith into action is particularly appropriate in 
     this millennial year, whose significance will be determined 
     not by turning a page on our calendars at home or work, but 
     by turning a page on the calendar of our hearts and deeds.
       To make a difference, we must take our religious beliefs 
     and values--our sense of justice, of right and wrong--into 
     America's cultural and communal life.
       In fact, that has begun to happen. In our nation's public 
     places, including our schools, people are finding 
     constitutional ways to honor and express faith in G-d. In the 
     entertainment industry, a surge of persistent public 
     pressure--a revolt of the revolted--has prodded at least some 
     executives to acknowledge their civic and moral 
     responsibility to our society and our children. It's even 
     happening in government, where we have come

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     together in recent years under President Clinton's leadership 
     to embrace some of our best values by enacting new laws and 
     programs that help the poor by reforming welfare, that 
     protect the innocent by combating crime, and that restore 
     responsibility by balancing our budget.
       In communities across America, people of faith are working 
     to repair some of the worst effects of our damaged moral and 
     cultural life, like teenage pregnancy, family disintegration, 
     drug dependency, and homelessness. Charitable giving is up, 
     more of the young are turning to community service, and 
     because our economy is booming, or perhaps in spite of it, 
     people are finding they need more than material wealth to 
     achieve happiness. They want spiritual fulfillment, cultural 
     elevation, more time with their families, and more confidence 
     that they are making a difference for the better.
       So there is reason in this millennial year to go forward 
     from this 48th National Prayer Breakfast with hope, ready to 
     serve God with gladness by transforming these good beginnings 
     into America's next Great Spiritual Awakening--one that will 
     secure the moral future of our nation and raise up the 
     quality of life of all our people.
       ``Let your light shine before others,'' Jesus said, ``so 
     that they may see your good works and give glory to your 
     Father in heaven.''
       If we do, then in time, as Isaiah prophesied: ``Every 
     valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be 
     made low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough 
     places smooth. For the earth will be full of the glory of the 
     Lord.''

     

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