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This is a speech that Katherine Harris gave to the Reclaiming America for Christ Conference last week.
Posted on TheocracyWatch, March 31, 2006
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> INTRODUCTION
>
Thank you, for your kind introduction and for the extraordinary spiritual leadership that you provide for our nation during times of great challenge, as well times of great psorperity.
I also wish to recognize Dr. David Barton for his outstanding contributions to America. Through his expert scholarship, he is helping our nation reconnect with the true beliefs and perspectives of its founders.
I am profoundly honored by the invitation to join
> with you in this phenomenally inspirational weekend of spiritual
> renewal and invaluable time of fellowship and prayer. I am grateful
> for the powerful spirit that pervades this gathering - and
I pray that God will use this time to strengthen
> His Church, the body of Christ - infusing us with His Spirit so that
> together, we can help heal the wounds of this broken world.
For where two or more are gathered in His name,
> He is there also.
On a recent congressional visit to Iraq and
> Israel, I saw Him in the eyes and hearts of our brave service men and
> women. The experience was immensely rewarding and reinforced my
> determined belief that our chosen course is an integral step toward
> achieving His goal.
As we gather here today, the brave men and women
> with whom I was honored to meet and their colleagues continue to
> sacrifice in our name and for our sake. For our soldiers and for the
> people of Iraq, it is a time of great promise and peril.
Yesterday Chaplain [Kenneth] Beale, Jr. spoke
> eloquently and with great empathy of the integral and vital role faith
> plays on the battlefield, as well as on the home front. Holding these
> men and women in our prayers each day comforts their families and
> unifies the nation through daily devotion. Let us all remember the
> members of our armed services and their loved ones each day.
Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are
> engaged in a valiant engagement to secure the blessings which God has
> richly endowed upon this nation. Americans are afforded the graces of
> freedom, power, and material wealth that is unrivaled in human history.
And through His grace, democracy is blooming in
> regions once barren of hope and where no one thought it was possible.
> Palestine . . . Ukraine . Lebanon . . . and thanks to the sacrifice
> of our brave men and women in uniform, now Afghanistan . . . and at
> last, Iraq!
Yet, we confront a determined enemy, relentless
> in the pursuit of denying liberty, prosperity, and political pluralism
> to the inhabitants of the Middle East. Their betrayal of the sacred
> lands of the region and their victimization of the innocent is a
> faithless journey. While the War on Terror remains far from over, its
> end is clear. Victory shall be ours and faith shall be restored.
As America honors its obligations to preserve,
> protect and promote deomcracy, many of us may feel like Frodo at the
> end of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first Lord of the Rings
> Installment, "I wish the ring had never come to me - I wish
> none of this had happened."
But recall Gandolf's response: "So do all who
> live to see such times, but this is not for them to decide. All we
> have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us . . .
> "
Then remember The Lady of the Wood's sage advice:
> "Even the smallest person can change the course of history."
> A New Awakening
I believe that the horrific events of September
> 11th heralded a New Awakening, through which we can achieve the
> destiny our founding fathers envisioned.
Our nation awoke on September 12th from a period
> of languor. Our slumber was violently disturbed by the fatalism of
> radicals and the absence of God. But we are no longer at rest.
Much to the contrary, we are robustly engaged in
> a virtuous battle to preserve our values, our culture and our inherent
> right to freely practice our faiths.
This war in which we must remain vigilant recalls
> in my heart and mind 2nd Chronicles 32:7-8 in which Hezekiah implored
> the people: "Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor
> dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that
> is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is
> an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to
> fight our battles."
>
> AMERICA'S SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION
Individual crisis and national tragedy often have
> the impact of returning us to our spiritual roots. In the wake of
> September 11, God filled our nation with resolve as citizens filled
> the safe haven of metropolitan churches and one-room parishes. The
> Spirit filled us with unity and fraternity that we had not experienced
> since Pearl Harbor.
God drew us closer to Him and we, in turn, grew
> closer to each other. Like the Prodigal Son, many Americans found
> themselves walking away from the day's events and toward Christ.
Yet, despite the continuing threats we face at
> home and abroad, a relative sense of normalcy inevitably returned to
> our land - and the practice faith once again wandered away from the
> public square.
We are profoundly a nation constructed upon a
> foundation of faith. However, many of the elites preach to Americans
> about "their freedoms," absent consideration of.
> · Faith inspired the American Adventure nearly four
> centuries ago, when 100 intrepid men, women, and children set sail
> from Plymouth, England on The Mayflower. Their destination was a new
> land thousands of miles across an unforgiving ocean where they could
> worship God freely.
> · As the Pilgrims carved the Plymouth Colony out of
> the wilderness during the harsh New England winter, death claimed 50
> percent of their numbers. Nevertheless, their thirst for religious
> freedom was stronger than any hardship.
> · They sought to establish a New Jerusalem on the
> shores of America. And one century and one-half later, our founding
> fathers fashioned our Constitution guided by this same belief in God's
> grand design to use our nation as a beacon of freedom for the world.
> · The First Continental Congress opened with a
> prayer, while the Declaration of Independence concluded with the
> phrase:
> · "And for the support of this Declaration, with a
> firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually
> pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
> · In his 1861 farewell address, Abraham Lincoln
> acknowledged Divine Providence wishing his audience:
> · "His care commending you, as I hope in your
> prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."
> · Similarly George Washington professed in his
> farewell address that "virtue and morality is a necessary spring of
> popular government." Even more enduring is the painting of General
> Washington kneeling in completive prayer at a time when all hope
> seemed lost.
> · Since then, faith has sustained our Nation
> through war, depression, and social upheaval. It served to guide the
> civil rights leadership and inspired its armies of conscience toward a
> better nation.
> THE ROLE OF FAITH IN LEADERSHIP
> · Those of us in public office know our service is
> toward reaching a Higher Calling not a Higher office. We seek God's
> aid to inspire the will of the people, not to impose our own.
> · As Hezekiah implored the Kingdom of Judah's
> "civil elders" to join in that civilization's spiritual revival, our
> nation looks to its civil officials for recognition and affirmation of
> their values.
> · The leadership often originates from diverse
> religious traditions, yet shares a dedication to achieve a higher
> purpose than our own material comfort.
> · Through the cooperative of Members of both parties
> in Congress and the Bush administration, our Government has taken bold
> steps to enlist the "armies of compassion." The success of such
> endeavors were evidenced at a recent White House conference on
> faith-based and community initiatives.
> · For the 3rd consecutive year, more than $2.1
> billion in grants were awarded to religious organizations by seven
> Federal agencies. A faith-based component recent was incorporated into
> the overall strategy at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to
> coordinate the agency's efforts to remove regulatory, contracting, and
> other programmatic obstacles to the participation of faith-based and
> community organizations.
> · The Department of Health and Human Services has
> witnessed a 64% increase in its funding of FBOs since FY 2002 - from
> $477 million to $780 million.
> · And programs designed to reintroduce prisoners to
> society, to shelter, not shun children of incarcerated individuals or
> provide a helping hand to an addict or victim of crime, we have
> welcomed the faithful into serving the public needs across the nation.
> · In fact, from 2002 to 2006, President Bush has
> requested $1.35 billion for targeted initiatives, and Congress has
> appropriated $742 million.
> · Many of those programs, however, would be mere
> dreams and not reality if it were not for those who took the battle of
> the faithful to the courts.
> · The demonstrated perseverance and fealty to our
> Constitution of those legal scholars and advocates secured victory for
> all people of faith in American Jewish Congress v. Corporation for
> National and Community Service, which upheld the right of AmeriCorps
> grant recipients to teach religious and secular subjects in
> religiously affiliated schools.
> · In January 2006, the Supreme Court declined
> review In the 2005 decision in Lown v. Salvation Army, it was ruled
> that churches and religious organizations retain their hiring autonomy
> when they receive Federal financial assistance. The court recognized
> FBOs do not become an arm of the government merely by receiving
> funding to provide social services.
> · Incorporated in the recently passed Deficit
> Reduction Act, charitable choice provisions now will fund the Healthy
> Marriages program. Additionally, Congress reauthorized the historic
> and life-affirming measures contained within the landmark welfare
> reform legislation.
> · Most importantly for those who serve in public
> office is to remain resolute in our protection of the sanctity of
> EVERY human life from conception until the Spirit returns to Heaven.
> The infirm, the elderly or the "inconvenient" are the soles to whom he
> owe the most in a society. To ignore their plight is to turn our eyes
> from another of God's children.
> · True faith associates with humility, not vanity.
> It reminds us of our failures while guiding us toward our successes.
> Faith helps us realize that we have fallen short in using the gifts
> God has bestowed upon us to alleviate suffering and oppression
> throughout the world.
> · My friends, let us pray fervently for our nation
> and its leaders - with thanksgiving for the strength that God has
> provided us to fight the threat from abroad -- and with humble
> supplication for the will to address spiritual decay and apathy
> within.
> · As we continue to confront the rugged and
> unfamiliar territory of a changed world, let us never forget that God
> will always deliver us, in William Bradford's words, to "a good
> harbor" and "safe to land."
> · May God bless you, and may God bless the United
> States of America.
>
Last updated: March 31, 2006 |
