National Bible Week

Floor Speech

NATIONAL BIBLE WEEK -- (House of Representatives - November 05, 2007)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that I come after the gentleman from Missouri, because before leaving home down in South Carolina this morning, I went to dedicate a water project in a part of my State where they have a real problem with potable water, and extensive health problems as well. During that ceremony, it was asked of me what kind of guarantee that I have that this water project would be seen to fruition. This morning we were dedicating the first phase. There are two others.

In answering the question, I referred to the greatest of all books, the Bible. I referred to the Book of Hebrew, the 11th chapter. I call that the faith chapter of the Bible. I quoted Hebrew 11.1: Faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. I quoted that because in our work here, much of the time, though we don't view our work as being grounded in the Bible, we often strike out on faith. We have a little idea sometimes of exactly where any issue is going. I do believe that as we carry out our duties and responsibilities to the people of this great Nation, sometimes we ought to pause and give credence to where that emanates from.

So I am pleased that my good friend from Illinois asked me to come down tonight and to join in this special order commemorating the Bible during National Bible Week. When I was growing up, my father, who was a fundamentalist minister, never asked me to read the Bible, never instructed me to do so. He just told me every morning at the breakfast table to recite a Bible verse. Now, it would be a little difficult to do that without reading the Bible. He made sure that we didn't do the same one twice. Daddy set down the rule. He took Jesus' whip off the table. So it was very, very important for me to read the Bible daily.

He also had a second rule, and that is that every night before retiring to bed, we had to share with our parents, or one of them, some current event. He would often have ways of showing us how that particular event that we may have shared was grounded in the Good Book.

So long before I became House Majority Whip, I assumed the leadership of the Democrats' Faith Working Group. For the last 3 years now, Mr. Speaker, it has been my great joy to work with the members of our caucus, trying to get our membership comfortable with the fact that our work here is in fact faith-based.

If you doubt it, then I ask all of my colleagues to just take a look at my favorite book of the Bible, the Book of James. It has got nothing to do with my name, though that would not be a bad thing. It's a very short book, but it tells us a lot about our responsibility. There, in the second chapter of James, we are all instructed that if your brother or sister comes to you hungry and naked, it is not enough to tell them to go in faith; you feed them and you clothe them.

That is what this Congress is all about. This Congress is about doing those things that are necessary to make sure that our constituents and make sure that our citizens are fed that need to be fed or clothed that need to be clothed. I do believe if James were writing his epistle today, he would also tell us it is also important to house them when they need shelter.

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