[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9818]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The guest Chaplain offered the following prayer:
  Let us pray.
  Oh God, who made the world and said it was good, we pray our faith--
and faiths--can help us see that good, despite the bad that sometimes 
blocks our way. Oh God, who said, ``Let there be light,'' we pray our 
faiths--in different ways, with different prayers and customs, but with 
shared hopes and dreams of better times--can help us see that light, 
despite the darkness that sometimes obscures our view.
  Almighty God, I remember twenty years ago, in a foxhole in Beirut: I 
looked around at the others in the bunker, and had a simple thought. 
``We Americans,'' I said, ``must have the only `interfaith foxholes' in 
the whole Mid-East.'' And then I thought, that if more foxholes had 
room for those of different faiths, perhaps we would need less room for 
foxholes--and have more room for faith.
  And so, we pray that we be touched and inspired by the dreams of 
faiths that make our Nation rich; and that we work with all who share 
the dream of freedom--and freedom's holy light. Let us see the danger 
is not that sometimes faiths see God--see You--in different ways, but 
that there are those in every faith who see themselves as gods. Let us 
keep faith, but let faith keep us humble, so that we know our limits, 
even as we learn our strength. Then the time will come when even 
interfaith foxholes will no longer be required and we learn war no 
more.
  And may we say, Amen.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Senator Reid, will you lead us in the 
Pledge of Allegiance.

                          ____________________