Citing Scripture, Joe Biden tells voters it’s time to become one nation under God again
Citing Scripture from Ecclesiastes 3, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden told voters Tuesday that God is calling the nation to heal from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, racial unrest and political division and he wants to make America one nation under God again.
“I run to unite this nation, to heal this nation. I’ve said that from the beginning. It’s badly necessary. The Bible tells us there’s a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to heal. This is that time. God in history has called us to this moment and to this mission,” Biden told voters in Warm Springs, Georgia, a week before Election Day.
“With our voices and our votes, [we] must free ourselves from the forces of darkness, from the forces of division and the forces of yesterday, from the forces that pull us apart, hold us down and hold us back. And if we do so, we’ll once more become one nation under God, indivisible, a nation united, a nation strengthened, a nation healed. That is my goal. That is why I’m running."
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Biden, who delivered his socially distant speech from the one-time retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, argued that while the impact of multiple crises on the nation has resulted in deep wounds in a political culture of division, he noted, “I know this country. I know our people. And I know we can unite and heal this nation.”
“These are historic, painful crises. The insidious virus, the economic anguish, the systematic discrimination, and one of them could have rocked the nation. Any one of them. Yet we’ve been hit by all three at once. But if we are honest with ourselves, the pain striking at the heart of our country … goes back years,” he argued.
“Politics for too long has been mean and bitter and divisive and you can hear it now in the distance,” he said, alluding to chanting protesters, who hoisted Trump flags and played “Sweet Home Alabama” not far from the state line.
“We’ve stopped seeing dignity in one another. We’ve stopped showing each other respect. Too many among us spend more time shouting than listening, more time fighting than working together, more time demonizing and denigrating others than lifting them up. The divisions in our nation are getting wider. … Anger and suspicion are growing and our wounds are getting deeper and many wonder, has it gone too far? Have we passed the pointed of no return?” he asked. “Has the heart of this nation turned to stone? I don’t think so. I refuse to believe it. I know this country. I know our people and I know we can unite and heal this nation.”
Biden promised to turn the page on “phony populism” and work on issues like bringing the coronavirus under control and deliver an economy that focused more on the welfare of workers.
He argued that he would work to be “a president who is not in it for himself but for others, a president who doesn’t divide us but unites us, a president who appeals not to the worst in us but to the best, a president who cares less about his TV ratings and more about the American people, a president who looks not to settle scores but to find solutions, a president guided not by wishful thinking but by science, reason and fact.”
“I’m running as a proud Democrat but I will govern as an American president. I’ll work with Democrats and Republicans. I’ll work as hard for those that don’t support me as for those who do. That’s the job of a president. A duty of care for everyone. This place, Warm Springs, is a reminder that though broken, each of us can be healed, that as a people and a country, we can overcome this devastating virus, that we can heal a suffering world and yes, we can restore our soul and save our country.”
