COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — president joe biden on Sunday praised the existence of the black church and said the world would be different without them showing people “the power of faith” in dark times.
The Democratic president spoke at St. John Baptist Church on the final day of the election. 2-day visit to South Carolina It is aimed at rallying black voters ahead of the party's Feb. 3 primary.
After flying in on Saturday, Biden visited a predominantly Black barbershop and spoke at a state Democratic Party dinner. He concluded his Sunday visit by addressing worshipers from different churches.
The president is trying to spread the message that he is loyal and determined to South Carolina, the state that saved his 2020 campaign. To win back black voters here. There are other people who were central to installing him as president, but who are less enthusiastic about him this time around.
Biden, a devout Roman Catholic who attends Mass every Sunday, praised the Black church during his appearance before a Baptist congregation, saying it teaches “the power of faith.” .
He asked worshipers to imagine “what would have happened if we didn't have a black church” to turn to in times of darkness.
“You gave us mountaintops, you gave us a promised land, you gave us dreams and faith that we can and will overcome,” the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said. he said while repeating.
“And you push us toward a more perfect union. You really do that, bending the arc of the moral world toward justice. What a gift you are to the nation and the world. Sho.
“Your prayers mean everything,” Biden said.
After his speech, Biden released a written statement about the drone strike in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border that killed three U.S. service members and injured numerous others. He blamed the attack on Iranian-backed militias.
Late Sunday, the president briefly mentioned the drone attack and called for a moment of silence during an appearance at the Brookland Baptist Church banquet hall. Mr. Biden has a long-standing relationship with the Rev. Charles Jackson.Mr. Jackson's wife Robin is the first lady. Jill Biden's prayer partner.
Earlier this month, Biden said: one of his first campaign speeches of the year In 2015, nine black parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston were shot and killed by a white stranger who had invited them to a Bible study.
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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
