The Bible in American Law and Politics. John R. Vile

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СКАЧАТЬ 743). In a speech at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, on March 5, 1996, for victims of a terrorist bombing in Israel, Clinton argued that “the fundamental differences are no longer between Jews and Arabs, or Protestants and Catholics, or Muslims and Serbs and Croats” but “between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; those who look to a future of hope and those who are trapped in a past of hatred; those who open their arms and those who insist on clenching their fists” (Linder 1996, 747).

      See also Clinton, Bill (Speech of Contrition at National Prayer Breakfast); Contract, Covenant, and Constitution

       For Reference and Further Reading

      Clinton, Bill. 1992. “In Their Own Words: Transcript of Speech by Clinton Accepting Democratic Nomination.” New York Times. July 17. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/17/their-own-words-transcript-speech-clinton-accepting-democratic-nomination.html. Accessed March 31, 2019.

Durant, Robert F. 2006. “A ‘New Covenant’ Kept: Core Values, Presidential Communications, and the Paradox of the Clinton Presidency.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 36 (September): 345–72.

Linder, Robert D. 1996. “Universal Pastor: President Bill Clinton’s Civil Religion.” Journal of Church and State 38 (Autumn): 733–49.

Ofulue, Nneka Ifeoma. 2002. “President Clinton and the White House Prayer Breakfast.” Journal of Communication and Religion 25(1): 49–63.

Clinton, Bill (Speech of Contrition at National Prayer Breakfast)

      When he accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party for the presidency in 1992, William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton indicated that he intended to establish a “new covenant” between the American people and their government that would be based on both rights and responsibilities. In time, however, Clinton became caught up in a sexual scandal with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, which he had vigorously denied but which was revealed in excruciating detail by Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, whose initial charge had been to investigate a land deal in which Clinton had participated.

      The same day that Congress released this report, Clinton used the annual prayer breakfast at the White House to give a twelve-minute speech in which he admitted to the affair, expressed contrition for his actions, and pledged to continue his work as president in what was probably the most Scripture-saturated speech of his two-term presidency.

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      Saying that he had been up late at night “thinking about and praying about what I should say today,” Clinton indicated that he had been on “quite a journey” to get “to the rock bottom truth of where I am and where we all are.” Acknowledging that he had not previously been “contrite enough,” he followed with “I don’t think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned.” Clinton seemed to be following David’s confession of sin with Bathsheba (and his subsequent complicity in the death of her husband, Uriah) in Psalm 51, where, in verse 1, he had called upon God to “blot out my transgressions,” and, in verse 2, to “cleanse me from my sin.” Clinton continued: “It is important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine: first and most important, my family; also my friends, my staff, my Cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people. I have asked all for their forgiveness.”

      Although Clinton did not mention God as among those against whom he had sinned (by contrast, in addressing God in Psalm 51:4, King David had said “against thee, and thee only have I sinned”), Clinton indicated that he needed “God’s help to be the person that I want to be.” In addition to his sorrow, he indicated that, if he were to be forgiven, he needed, “genuine repentance—a determination to change and to repair breaches of my own making,” and “what my bible calls a ‘broken spirit,’” a theme evident in many biblical passages including Psalm 51:57, which refers to “a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart.” Somewhat later, however, after indicating that while admitting wrong, he was still instructing his lawyers to “mount a vigorous defense,” Clinton expressed the hope “that with a broken spirit and a still strong heart I can be used for greater good.”

      As the speech continued, Clinton indicated that he was seeking pastoral support and prayers and hoped that the nation’s children could learn “that integrity is important and selfishness is wrong.” He further quoted from the liturgy of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. In concluding his speech, Clinton referenced without citing chapter and verse Psalm 139:23–24 in saying, “I ask you to share my prayer that God will search me and know my heart, try me and know my anxious thought, see if there is any hurtfulness in me, and lead me toward the life everlasting.” He also reflected the words of Psalm 51:10 in asking for “a clean heart,” and 2 Corinthians 5:7 in saying, “let me walk by faith and not sight.”

      Reflecting Jesus’s summary of the Ten Commandments, the words of St. Francis, and Psalm 19:14 and Psalm 139:1, 23–24, Clinton ended the text of his formal speech by saying, “I ask once again to be able to love my neighbor—all my neighbors—as my self, to be an instrument of God’s peace; to let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart and, in the end, the work of my hands, be pleasing. This is what I wanted to say to you today. Thank you. God bless you.”

Reactions to the speech varied. Susanne Scholze, from Wooster University, thus cited Clinton’s use of Scripture as an example of “hermeneutic abuse,” noting that “to use the Bible for such political ends is an abuse of the Bible” (quoted by Herlinger 1998). Members of the National Association of Evangelicals and of the Southern Baptist Convention had refused to attend. By contrast, 114Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said that “I think he was repentant this morning. And for me, that’s more important than being sorry” (quoted by Bennet 1998).

      At least two articles have explored the parallels between Clinton and the biblical king David (see Vile [1998] and Ofulue 2002). In 1995, Mother Teresa has used her speech before the National Prayer Breakfast to speak out against abortion, during which President Clinton was reported to have “quietly listened” (Winston 2017).

      See also Clinton, Bill (New Covenant)

       For Reference and Further Reading

Bennet, James. 1998. “Testing of a President: The President; Tearful Clinton Tells Group of Clerics, ‘I Have Sinned.’” New York Times. September 12. https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/12/us/testing-president-president-tearful-clinton-tells-group-clerics-have-sinned.html.

      Clinton, Bill. 1998. “I Have Sinned.” The History Place Great Speeches Collection. September 11. http ://www.historyplace.com/speeches/clinton-sin.htm.

      Herlinger, Chris. 1998. “Clinton Tells Religious Leaders: ‘I Have Sinned.’” The Layman. September 18. https://layman.org/news61c4/.

Ofulue, Nneka Ifeoma. 2002. “President Clinton and the White House Prayer СКАЧАТЬ