Discussing Congressional Prayer Breakfast/Faith in Politics Transcript: Congressional Record July 18, 2005

Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for having the foresight to bring a group of us together here this evening on the House floor to talk about something that is an event that happens each Thursday morning, not something, but an event that happens each Thursday morning that I think helps mold us to realize that all of us have deep, abiding faith, regardless of which political party we claim to be of.

We keep saying that Thursday morning is the best, it is the best hour of the week. Well, there is no question that is the case. But for me it gives me an opportunity; most of us in our districts, I have 10,000 square miles, and Tennessee is 40,000 square miles, and in my congressional district, you probably would not find any more God-fearing people, God-loving people than in the district I represent. Now, I know each of you will challenge that, I am sure. But I know the folks that I represent, and my colleagues know the people that they represent. But the people I represent are very rural people, they are close to nature, and worship is important to them.

From time to time, Sunday mornings, never Wednesday nights can I go to prayer meetings anymore, but on Sunday mornings sometimes we have schedules that prevent us from being at our own home church. I am Southern Baptist. So Thursday morning has become the day that I look to as kind of my church day. It is the day that I know that I will get together with people here in Congress, 435 of us, I wish all of us came, that I could get with individuals and we share our faith, without knowing which party that we are a member of.

I go back to my youth when I was growing up, and I think when you start looking especially in the rural areas, the gentleman from Nebraska represents a huge area of Nebraska, and I am sure he probably has small communities that have less than 20 to 30 people, but there is a church there, is there not? There is a house of faith that is built there.

So when our early settlers first came to this country, a family or two would locate, and one of the first buildings they would build other than their home was a house where they could worship, a house of worship. Oftentimes it was used also to educate the young children. That has always been the nucleus that has held that community together.

So I think our prayer breakfast basically gives me that same magnetic feeling of being among those who share a faith. We have had different faiths who speak, and I have been impressed with each one of them. I have been surprised, in many cases, by each of them as they talk about how they grew up and what their father and mother did and how their mother and father encouraged them and took them to church with them and encouraged them to develop a deep, abiding faith. I listen to those Members of Congress and I think, there is no partisanship there.

Sometimes, when we are looked upon by those outside of this Chamber, through the media, through some of the partisan efforts, quite frankly, probably in our different parties in our local communities, I am not sure they realize how close many of us are at those Thursday morning prayer breakfasts and how we pray for each other and for this country and for our soldiers that are in harm's way. And we pray for the wisdom to look to God's will as we make the decisions here inside this Chamber.

I often get an opportunity to go down to the country stores. Some of my colleagues may not have the rural country stores where that also is kind of an area where if it is not Wednesday night or Sunday morning or Sunday evening, where people gather. I go to a little place called Forbus General Store. It has been in operation since 1887; it is over 100 years old and continues to operate.

Years ago, if you wanted medications, if you were sick, the doctor would write a prescription, or you would go to that store, and even though a fellow may or may not have been a pharmacist, he would give you a prescription. If you had lost a family member, you could buy a casket. If you had a team of mules, you could buy a harness. It is a huge facility that is still in operation.

Obviously, those particular items you do not purchase there any more, but one thing we will do. We will sit back in the back, and there is usually a table where you can sit and drink coffee, and I know the Republicans and I know the Democrats. I think all of them probably are for me; at least I hope they are. But as we talk about issues, there is never a time when it appears that we get angry at each other. There is always that, because we know each other, there is that camaraderieship amongst each other, and issues that come up that are important to them.

As a Congressman, the other day I was there; I tell this joke and I probably should not. But this one fellow, I was carrying on a pretty good conversation, and one of the boys in the back named Johnny Anderson reared back and he said, Lincoln, you are getting just like those fellows in Washington. I believe you are getting so winded you could blow up an onion sack.

So, in essence, they look at us sometimes differently in these small rural areas; and maybe in the urban areas it is the same way. But what I hope, after our presentations tonight, that Americans will realize that as a group of men and women collectively, men and women of faith, that our faith does mean something to us; that in most cases, I truly believe all of us make a faith-based decision on the issues that come before this House. I know I do. And I think all of the Members do.

So it has been a delight for me to work with the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne). He is of a different political party than me. As a matter of fact, Tennessee Vols learned to have a greater respect for the gentleman from Nebraska (Coach Osborne) when he was a coach in Nebraska. So, in essence, I have learned a greater respect for him as well, for the man, for the man of faith that I know him to be, and for a spiritual leader that many of us can look to for spiritual guidance.

So to me, on Thursday mornings, bringing together folks who seem to be so different in the eyes of the American public, if they were only here, would realize that there is at least one place that bipartisanship thoroughly survives and is loved among those of us who go on Thursday morning to a prayer breakfast. In February we have the Congressional Day of Prayer, and it is attended by many people from different nations. And at that prayer breakfast, I think we have been able to probably minister and reach out to individuals of different faiths and some even to help establish a faith in them and perhaps in their country.

So I look forward to working with the gentleman for the rest of the year and continue as long as I am in Congress to share with men and women of faith on the special hour each Thursday morning.

Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much, and I certainly appreciate his leadership at the prayer breakfast.