"The Momentum Took Off and the Energy is Building"

Barack's Faith Speech: "The Momentum Took Off and the Energy is Building"
By Alex MacCallum - Jun 23rd, 2007 at 5:45 pm EDT

Today, Barack gave a major speech on faith and politics to a national convention of the United Church of Christ in Hartford, Connecticut.

"The momentum took off and the energy is building," a UCC minister said before Barack's remarks.

Here's the AP story, and below are some excerpts from the speech. Barack focused on what brings us closer together -- not what tears us apart. As he said, "People are coming together around a simple truth – that we are all connected, that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper."

(Check back in for a link to the speech – we'll post it when it's available.)

Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart.

At every opportunity, [the Christian Right] has told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design…

…But I'm hopeful because I think there's an awakening taking place in America. People are coming together around a simple truth – that we are all connected, that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. And that it's not enough to just believe this – we have to do our part to make it a reality.

…[W]e all have it within our power to make this a better world. Because we all have the capacity to... to rise above what divides us and come together to meet those challenges we can't meet alone.
...So let's rededicate ourselves to a new kind of politics – a politics of conscience... [I]f we can embrace a common destiny – then I believe we'll not just help bring about a more hopeful day in
America, we'll not just be caring for our own souls, we'll be doing God's work here on Earth.

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