Good morning. I want to thank the Co-Chairs of this breakfast,
Representatives Heath Shuler and Vernon Ehlers. I'd also like to thank Tony
Blair for coming today, as well as our Vice President, Joe Biden, members of
my Cabinet, members of Congress, clergy, friends, and dignitaries from
across the world.
Michelle and I are honored to join you in prayer this morning. I know this
breakfast has a long history in Washington, and faith has always been a
guiding force in our family's life, so we feel very much at home and look
forward to keeping this tradition alive during our time here.
It's a tradition that I'm told actually began many years ago in the city of
Seattle. It was the height of the Great Depression, and most people found themselves out of work. Many fell into poverty. Some lost everything.
The leaders of the community did all that they could for those who were
suffering in their midst. And then they decided to do something more: they
prayed. It didn't matter what party or religious affiliation to which they
belonged. They simply gathered one morning as brothers and sisters to share
a meal and talk with God.
These breakfasts soon sprouted up throughout Seattle, and quickly spread to
cities and towns across America, eventually making their way to Washington.
A short time after President Eisenhower asked a group of Senators if he
could join their prayer breakfast, it became a national event. And today,
as I see presidents and dignitaries here from every corner of the globe, it
strikes me that this is one of the rare occasions that still brings much of
the world together in a moment of peace and goodwill.
I raise this history because far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a
tool to divide us from one another - as an excuse for prejudice and
intolerance. Wars have been waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For
centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of
perceived righteousness.
There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our
beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow
different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be
here and where we're going next - and some subscribe to no faith at all.
But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no
religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking
the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.
We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all
great religions together. Jesus told us to "love thy neighbor as thyself."
The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your
fellow." In Islam, there is a hadith that reads "None of you truly believes
until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." And the same
is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for
humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule - the call to love one
another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those
with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.
It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging.
For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the
well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every
issue. Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or resolve
ancient hatreds. And that requires a living, breathing, active faith. It
requires us not only to believe, but to do - to give something of ourselves
for the benefit of others and the betterment of our world.
In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a
greater good for all of us. Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs
can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make
peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those
who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of
faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of
the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I'm
announcing later today.
The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over
another - or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be
to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our
communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely
drew between church and state. This work is important, because whether it's
a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups
providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what's
happening on our streets and in our neighborhoods than these organizations.
People trust them. Communities rely on them. And we will help them.
We will also reach out to leaders and scholars around the world to foster a
more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith. I don't expect divisions to
disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts
will suddenly vanish. But I do believe that if we can talk to one another
openly and honestly, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new
partnerships will begin to emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the
day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry
and make room for the healing power of understanding.
This is my hope. This is my prayer.
I believe this good is possible because my faith teaches me that all is
possible, but I also believe because of what I have seen and what I have
lived.
I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who
was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were
non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of
organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I've
ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to
understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.
I didn't become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the
South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of
indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month
working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down
on their luck - no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or
who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I
first heard God's spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a
higher purpose - His purpose.
In different ways and different forms, it is that spirit and sense of
purpose that drew friends and neighbors to that first prayer breakfast in
Seattle all those years ago, during another trying time for our nation. It
is what led friends and neighbors from so many faiths and nations here
today. We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also
to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the
heart of all humanity. As St. Augustine once said, "Pray as though
everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."
So let us pray together on this February morning, but let us also work
together in all the days and months ahead. For it is only through common
struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our
highest purpose as beloved children of God. I ask you to join me in that
effort, and I also ask that you pray for me, for my family, and for the
continued perfection of our union. Thank you.
The transcript will also eventually be posted at the White House site, in the meantime here is a PDF from USA Today.
