[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[February 4, 1999]
[Pages 159-162]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast
February 4, 1999

    Thank you very much, Steve. Distinguished 
head table guests; to the leaders from around the world who are here; 
the Members of Congress, Mr. Speaker and 
others; ladies and gentlemen.
    You know, I feel exactly the way I did the first time I ever gave a 
speech as a public official to the Pine Bluff Rotary Club officers 
installation banquet in January of 1977. The dinner started at 6:30. 
There were 500 people there.

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All but three were introduced; they went home mad. [Laughter] We'd been 
there since 6:30; I was introduced at a quarter 'til 10. The guy that 
introduced me was so nervous he didn't know what to do and, so help me, 
the first words out of his mouth were, ``You know, we could stop here 
and have had a very nice evening.'' [Laughter] He didn't mean it the way 
it sounded, but I do mean it. We could stop here and have had a very 
wonderful breakfast. You were magnificent, Max. 
Thank you very much.
    I did want to assure you that one of the things that has been said 
here today, repeatedly, is absolutely true. Senator Hutchison was talking about when we come here, we set party 
aside, and there is absolutely no politics in this. I can tell you that 
is absolutely so. I have had a terrific relationship with Steve 
Largent, and he has yet to vote with me the 
first time. [Laughter] So I know there is no politics in the prayer 
breakfast. [Laughter]
    We come here every year--Hillary and I were staying up kind of late 
last night talking about what we should say today, who would be here. I 
think, especially in light of what Max Lucado has just said, I would 
like to ask you to think about what he said in terms of the world we 
live in, for it is easier to talk about than to do, this idea of making 
peace with those who are different from us.
    We have certain signs of hope, of course. Last Good Friday, in 
Northern Ireland, the Irish Protestants and the Irish Catholics set 
aside literally centuries of distrust and chose peace for their 
children. Last October, at the Wye Plantation in Maryland, Chairman 
Arafat, Abu Mazen, and 
the Palestinian delegation, and Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli delegation went through literally 
sleepless nights to try to save the peace process in the Middle East and 
put it back on track. Throughout this year, our allies and we have 
worked to deepen the peace of Bosnia--and we're delighted to have the 
leader of the Republika Srpska here today--and 
we're working today to avoid a new catastrophe in Kosovo, with some 
hopeful signs.
    We also have worked to guarantee religious freedom to those who 
disagree with all of us in this room, recognizing that so much of the 
trouble in the world is rooted in what we believe are the instructions 
we get from God to do things to people who are different from us. And we 
think the only answer is to promote religious freedom at home and around 
the world. I want to thank all of you who helped us to pass the 
Religious Freedom Act of 1998. I'd like to say a special word of 
appreciation to Dr. Robert Seiple, the 
former head of World Vision, who is here with us today, who is now 
America's Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. Later 
this month I have to appoint three members to the United States 
Commission on International Religious Freedom; the Congress has already 
nominated its members. We know that's a part of it. But respectfully, I 
would suggest it's not enough.
    As we pray for peace, as we listen to what Max said, we say, ``Well, 
of course, it is God's will.'' But the truth is, throughout history 
people have prayed to God to aid them in war. People have claimed 
repeatedly that it was God's will that they prevail in conflict. 
Christians have done it at least since the time of the Crusades. Jews 
have done it since the times of the Old Testament. Muslims have done it 
from the time of the Essene down to the present day. No faith is 
blameless in saying that they have taken up arms against others of other 
faiths, other races, because it was God's will that they do so. And 
nearly everybody would agree that from time to time that happens, over 
the long course of history. I do believe that even though Adolf Hitler 
preached a perverted form of Christianity, God did not want him to 
prevail. But I also know that when we take up arms or words against one 
another, we must be very careful in invoking the name of our Lord.
    Abraham Lincoln once said that in the great Civil War, neither side 
wanted war, and both sides prayed to the same God. But one side would 
make war, rather than stay in the Union, and the other side would accept 
war, rather than let it be rent asunder. So the war came. In other 
words, our great President understood that the Almighty has His own 
designs, and all we can do is pray to know God's will.
    What's that got to do with us? Martin Luther King once said we had 
to be careful taking vengeance in the name of God, because the old law 
of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.
    And so, today, in the spirit in which we have truly been ministered 
to today, I ask you to pray for peace in the Middle East; in Bosnia and 
Kosovo; in Northern Ireland, where there are new difficulties. I ask you 
to pray that the young leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea will find

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a way to avoid war. I ask you to pray for a resolution of the conflicts 
between India and Pakistan. I ask you to pray for the success of the 
peace process in Colombia, for the agreement made by the leaders of 
Ecuador and Peru, for the ongoing struggles to make the peace process 
work in Guatemala. I ask you to pray for peace.
    I ask you to pray for the peacemakers: for the Prime Minister of 
Albania, who is here, for the Prime Minister 
of Macedonia. Their region is deeply 
troubled. I ask you to pray for Chairman Arafat and the Palestinians; for the Government of Israel; 
for Mrs. Leah Rabin and her children, who are 
here, for the awful price they have paid in the loss of Prime Minister 
Rabin for the cause of peace. I ask you to pray for our King 
Hussein, a wonderful human being, a champion 
of peace who, I promise you today, is fighting for his life mostly--
mostly--so he can continue to fight for peace.
    And finally, I ask you to pray for all of us, including yourself, to 
pray that our purpose truly will reflect God's will, to pray that we can 
all be purged of the temptation to pretend that our willfulness is 
somehow equal to God's will, to remember that all the great peacemakers 
in the world, in the end, have to let go and walk away, like Christ, not 
from apparent but from genuine grievances.
    If Nelson Mandela can walk away from 28 years of oppression in a 
little prison cell, we can walk away from whatever is bothering us. If 
Leah Rabin and her family can continue their struggle for peace after 
the Prime Minister's assassination, then we can continue to believe in 
our better selves.
    I remember on September 19th, 1993, when the leaders of Israel and 
the Palestinian Authority gathered in Washington to sign the peace 
accord, the great question arose about whether, in front of a billion 
people on international television, for the very first time, Chairman 
Arafat and Prime Minister Rabin would shake hands. Now, this may seem 
like a little thing to you, but Yitzhak Rabin and I were sitting in my 
office talking, and he said, ``You know, Mr. President, I have been 
fighting this man for 30 years. I have buried a lot of people. This is 
difficult.'' And I started to make an argument, and before I could say 
anything, he said, ``But you do not make peace with your friends.'' And 
so the handshake occurred that was seen around the world.
    Then, a little while afterward--some time passed--they came back to 
Washington, and they were going to sign these agreements about what the 
details were of handing over Gaza and parts of the West Bank. And the 
two of them had to sign, on this second signing, three copies of these 
huge maps, books of maps. There were 27 maps--you remember--27 maps. 
There were literally thousands of markings on these maps, on each page--
what would happen at every little crossroad, who would be in charge, who 
would do this, who would do that, who would do the other thing. And 
right before the ceremony there was a hitch, and some jurisdictional 
issue was not resolved. And everybody was going around in a tizzy. And I 
opened the door to the little back room where the Vice President and I 
have lunch once a week, and I said to these two people, who shook hands 
for the first time not so long ago, ``Why don't you guys go in this room 
and work this out. This is not a big deal.'' Thirty minutes later they 
came out. No one else was in there. They worked it out. They signed the 
copies 3 times, 27 pieces each, each page they were signing. And it was 
over.
    You do not make peace with your friends, but friendship can come 
with time and trust and humility when we do not pretend that our 
willfulness is an expression of God's will.
    I do not know how to put this into words. A friend of mine last week 
sent me a little story out of Mother Teresa's life, when she said she 
was asked, ``When you pray, what do you say to God?'' And she said, ``I 
don't say anything. I listen.'' And then she was asked, ``Well when you 
listen, what does God say to you?'' And she said, ``He doesn't say 
anything, either. He listens.'' [Laughter]
    In another way, St. Paul said the same thing: ``We do not know how 
to pray as we ought, but the Spirit, Himself, intercedes for us with 
sighs too deep for words.''
    So I ask you to reflect on all we have seen and heard and felt 
today. I ask you to pray for peace, for the peacemakers, and for peace 
within each of our hearts--in silence.
    Amen.

Note: The President spoke at 9:26 a.m. in the International Ballroom at 
the Washington Hilton Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to 
Representative Steve Largent, master of ceremonies; Rev. Max Lucado, 
pastor, Oak Hills Church of Christ, San Antonio, TX; Yasser Arafat, 
Chairman, and

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Abu Mazen, Secretary General of the Executive Committee, Palestinian 
Authority; Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel; Prime Minister 
Milorad Dodik of the Republika Srpska; Prime Minister Pandeli Majko of 
Albania; Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski of the Former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia; Leah Rabin, widow of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin 
of Israel; and King Hussein I of Jordan.