I am mindful that we’re all sinners...
I really appreciate leaders from around the globe who have come to share in prayer with us today. It reminds me that the Almighty God is a God to everybody, every person.
We should fund the armies of compassion, we should not discriminate against faith-based programs.
God’s signs are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are not always our own. Yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral, are known and heard, and understood.
There are prayers that help us last through the day, or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers, that give us strength for the journey. And there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than our own...
My administration will be more supportive of the good works done here than any administration in the history of this country because I understand the power of faith, that faith can change lives.
And I strongly support the faith-based initiative that we’re proposing, because I don’t believe it violates the line between the separation of church and state, and I believe it’s going to make America a better place.
We’ve got a cultural issue in America. We’ve got to change the whole way the issue is looked at. That’s the mission. Some in the political process don’t have enough patience for that, and I probably don’t either.
The days of discriminating against religious institutions simply because they are religious must come to an end.
We do not prescribe any prayer; we welcome all prayer.
It has sustained me in moments of success and in moments of disappointment. Without it, I’d be a different person. And without it, I doubt I’d be here today.
Our plan will not favor religious institutions over nonreligious institutions. As president, I’m interested in what is constitutional and I’m interested in what works.
We have set out to promote the work of community and faith-based charities. Government cannot be replaced by charities, but it can welcome them as partners instead of resenting them as rivals.
It is one of the great goals of my administration to invigorate the spirit of involvement and citizenship. We will encourage faith-based and community programs without changing their mission.
And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity. I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who creates us equal in His image.
Together, we will reclaim America’s schools, before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives.
And some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor’s touch or a pastor’s prayer. Church and charity, synagogue and mosque, lend our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our plans and laws.
In every instance when my administration sees a responsibility to help people, we will look first to faith-based institutions, to charities and to community groups that have shown their ability to save and change lives.
We will keep a commitment to pluralism and not discriminate for or against Methodist or Mormons or Muslims or good people with no faith at all.
I don’t see how we can allow public dollars to fund programs where spite and hate is the core of the message. Louis Farrakhan preaches hate.