Supporting the Goals and Ideals of a National Weekend of Prayer and Reflection for Darfur, Sudan
SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF A NATIONAL WEEKEND OF PRAYER AND REFLECTION FOR DARFUR, SUDAN -- (House of Representatives - July 11, 2005)
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 333) supporting the goals and ideals of a National Weekend of Prayer and Reflection for Darfur, Sudan.
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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H. Res. 333 which supports the goals and the ideals of a national weekend of prayer and reflection for Darfur, Sudan. It is fort that this resolution also come to the floor today when we mark the tenth anniversary of another genocide, that which took place in the Balkans and, in particular, 10 years ago to the day, July 11, 1995 when the killing fields were very much covered with blood and murder in Srebreniza. This body a few weeks ago passed my resolution to remember that horrific event, and sadly, today we are on the floor again bringing much needed attention and priority and hopefully an appeal for prayer and fasting on behalf of those who have suffered and are suffering in Darfur, Sudan.
It was almost a year ago, Mr. Speaker, on July 21 that the House passed H. Con. Res. 467 that finally, at long last, called what is occurring, in Darfur, a genocide. Since that time, the United States Government has provided over $600 million in humanitarian relief to help ease the suffering of the most affected by this terrible conflict and over $150 million to support the African Union in their mission in Darfur. President Bush, the Congress, Democrats, Republicans, House and Senate, countless numbers of churches, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks and activists around the world have devoted a huge amount of time trying to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur and mobilizing political and material support for efforts to mitigate and hopefully end this genocide.
For its part, the U.N. Security Council has passed no less than six resolutions addressing the situation in Darfur. Still, the crisis, the genocide, continues. Out of a pre-conflict population of 6.5 million, anywhere between 300,000 and 400,000 Darfurians have perished, and an estimated 10,000 continue to die each and every month. Over 2 million have been forced from their homes. Entire villages have been looted and destroyed, and countless men, women and children have been murdered, abducted, abused or raped.
Mr. Speaker, I believe it is our Nation's richest and most important tradition that we turn to God in prayer, in good times and bad, to thank Him for His blessings and to ask and to petition Him for His help. I believe we delude ourselves if we think that we possess the wisdom or the courage or the skill to solve the myriad of vexing problems that we face. We needed God's help.
Earlier today, Reverend Dan Coughlin, the House Chaplain, in his opening prayer here, eloquently pointed the way to us as Members of Congress, as people of faith, when he quoted scripture that everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and those who humble themselves shall be exalted. Prayer certainly is a humbling process of realizing who we are in relation to God.
He pointed out in his prayer again that life itself has taught us that "all exaltation leads only to illusion, and left to ourselves, we can easily slip and fall" and he calls on us as government leaders with "high aspirations" hopefully to be "grounded in the people we serve" and again this whole idea of humbling ourselves in prayer so that we can bring God's blessing and power into any situation.
Nowhere is that more true than in these vexing problems that we see all over the globe especially in places like Darfur where this genocide has been occurring. The events of the past year have shown us that it is extremely difficult to impose peace upon Darfur. In the Book of James, we are told that faith without works is dead. Yes, we need the works-humanitarian assistance, including food and medicine. We need the statecraft. We need the peacekeeping intervention that is being organized now as part of the African Union peace mission. All of that has to be done but we also must pray. We must pray for even those who perpetrate such atrocities against their own brothers and sisters, that they will lay down their weapons and turn from this gross evil and the destructive path that they have chosen. We must pray for the people of Sudan, especially its leaders, and especially those thugs who are on the ground today, who derive their fleeting power from the barrel of a gun, to end their reign of terror against innocent men, women and children.
H. Res. 333 supports a national weekend of prayer and reflection for Darfur and solemnly encourages the people of the United States to observe that weekend, and I think it should be every weekend and every day, but certainly in a very focused way for a weekend by praying for an end to genocide, for a lasting peace for these beleaguered people. It also urges all churches and synagogues and mosques and religious institutions in the United States to consider, to focus upon the issue of Darfur in their activities and to observe the national weekend of prayer and reflection with appropriate activities and services.
I want to thank my good friend and colleague Mr. Payne, my fellow New Jerseyan, for introducing this important resolution, and I am very proud to be one of the cosponsors. I urge my colleagues to support it and above all to join us in praying that a just and a merciful God will stop the slaughter, to pray that He will heal the surviving victims who have been so brutally traumatized, and pray that God empower the international community to mete out justice to the perpetrators of this heinous genocide.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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