Biden praises Black churches and says the world would be a different place without their example
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday extolled the existence of Black churches, saying the world would be a different place if they were not around to show people the “power of faith” during dark times.
The Democratic president spoke at St. John Baptist Church on the final day of a two-day visit to South Carolina designed to rally Black voters before the party’s primary on Feb. 3.
Biden visited a predominantly Black barbershop and spoke at a state Democratic Party dinner after he flew in on Saturday. He capped the visit Sunday by addressing worshippers at separate churches.
The president is trying to spread the message that he’s loyal to South Carolina, which saved his campaign in 2020, and that he’s determined to win back Black voters here and elsewhere who were central to putting him in office but are less enthused about him this time around.
A practicing Roman Catholic who attends Mass every Sunday, Biden praised Black churches in his appearance before the Baptist congregation, saying the churches teach the “power of faith.”
He asked the worshippers to imagine “what would have happened if there had been no Black church” to turn to in times of darkness.
“Well, you give us a mountaintop, you give us a promised land, you give us a dream and a faith that we shall overcome, can overcome,” he said, echoing words once spoken by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
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“And you push us toward a more perfect union, you really do, to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice together, and what a gift to the nation and the world you’ve been.
“Your prayers mean everything,” Biden said.
After he spoke, Biden issued a written statement on the deaths of three U.S. service members and the injuries to many others in a drone strike in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border. He attributed the attack to Iran-backed militia groups.
Later Sunday, the president briefly addressed the drone strike and asked for a moment of silence when he appeared at the banquet hall of Brookland Baptist Church. Biden has a long-standing relationship with Pastor Charles Jackson. Jackson’s wife, Robin, is first lady Jill Biden’s prayer partner.
Earlier this month, Biden delivered one of his first campaign speeches of the year at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, where in 2015 nine Black parishioners were shot to death by the white stranger they had invited to join their Bible study.
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President Joe Biden visited South Carolina to rally up Black voters before the party’s primary. He visited a predominantly Black barbershop and spoke at a state Democratic Party dinner on Saturday, and on Sunday talked to members of Black churches. He is trying to prove his loyalty to South Carolina and win back Black voters. Biden praised Black churches for teaching the power of faith and stressed their importance in turning to in times of darkness. He also addressed a drone strike that killed three U.S. service members and attributed the attack to Iran-backed militia groups. Later on, he appeared at the banquet hall of Brookland Baptist Church and asked for a moment of silence. Biden issued a statement on the drone strike and asked for a moment of silence. Earlier in the month, he spoke at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine Black parishioners were shot to death in 2015. Biden praised Black churches and their importance in times of darkness.