Condoleeza Rice on the Record
by: staff - Jul 1, 2006 - comments: 1
Before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to messengers at the 2006 Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina, June 14, she shared insights on the role faith plays in her life and the importance of religious freedom in the world with Bill Bunkley, host of “Drive Time with Bill Bunkley” on Salem Radio in Tampa and a legislative consultant for the Florida Baptist Convention.
BILL BUNKLEY: Thank you for this opportunity, Madam Secretary. In light of the recent persecution of the Christians, as well as other minority groups in Iraq—if a strict incorporation of Islamic law is included in the final Iraqi governance, would you consider that a major disappointment, maybe even a failure on the part of our government?
SECRETARY RICE: What we’re seeing in the Muslim world is a coming to terms with the relationship between Islam and politics. It’s, by the way, an evolution, a journey that a lot of countries have had to take. And these are young democracies.
They’re trying to come to terms with these issues, but their constitutions do enshrine individual rights. They enshrine the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, as well as a commitment to the laws of Islam. So I believe that they’re in much stronger position now to begin to guarantee the rights of minorities. And what we do know about places where Islam is practiced within democracies is that freedom of religion tends to reign.
BUNKLEY: You have shared in previous interviews that you are a deeply religious person. Could you share about your parents’ influence on your faith as a little girl growing up in Alabama? As well as today, how that affects your duties as the United States secretary of state?
RICE: Yes. Well, I was fortunate. I grew up in a home in which God was at the center. And in fact, our Sundays were my father in the pulpit, my mother on the organ, and when I was old enough, me on the piano. So the church was the center of our life. And my parents gave me the gift of that faith. I think it’s something I never doubted, although we all have our journeys.
And I think my recommitment to faith when I was in my late twenties was very important. I also have been through in terms of my own personal life, you know, the deaths of my parents. And I think when you go through something like that it’s only faith that gets you through. Your intellect won’t do it. It’s only faith. And you learn to trust your faith in hard times.
As a result, as first national security advisor and now secretary of state during some of the hardest times for our country, I think I’ve learned to trust our—trust faith and to trust that faith allows you not only to survive difficult times, but to overcome it and to even go on to do greater things. And that’s what America as a country has done under President Bush’s leadership. We’ve survived September 11, but we came out of that with a new commitment to the ideals of upholding the principles of liberty and democracy for people all around the world. And that’s, I think, when faith is at its best, when it steels you not just to get through your tragedy, but to reach for something higher.
Secretary Rice’s comments at the SBC:
“We are mindful that there are many men and women beyond our shores who live at the mercy of thieves and thugs and petty tyrants. We are mindful that many still suffer from scourges like poverty and diseases that are offensive to human dignity. And of course, we are mindful that too many people of faith can only whisper to God in the silent sanctuaries of their consciences because they fear persecution for their religious beliefs.”
“The president and I believe that the United States must remain engaged as a leader in events beyond our borders. We believe this because we are guided by the same enduring principle that gave birth to our own nation—human dignity is not a government’s gift to its citizens, nor is it mankind’s gift to one another. It is God’s endowment to all humanity.”
Source: Baptist Press
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1 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Oct 19th, 2006, at 11:48am, Joyce A. Williams wrote:
I am not happy with Condoleeza Rice, she is PRO-CHOICE and when you are PRO-CHOICE you are NOT following God’s Law, but your own!