[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[March 3, 1992]
[Pages 366-369]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 366]]

Remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals in Chicago, Illinois

March 3, 1992
    Thank you for that welcome. And to Dr. Johnson, Dr. Billy Melvin, 
Don Argue, Dave Rambo, Bob Dugan, my sincere thanks, not just to you 
all, to everyone up here, but to all of you for that very warm welcome.
    And I'd like to open, if I may, on a personal note, to thank you for 
the help that you've given me over the years. And I'm not really 
referring to the fine work that your team in Washington has been doing, 
although they've been of great help to our administration, advancing the 
values we share. Nor am I thinking only of the wonderful work you do in 
world relief and in helping people around this world, which is superb 
work. But my thanks are really more personal than that, and Barbara and 
I particularly want to thank you for your prayers.
    As I said many times before, prayer always has been important in our 
lives. And without it, I really am convinced, more and more convinced, 
that no man or no woman who has the privilege of serving in the 
Presidency could carry out their duties without prayer. I think of 
Lincoln's famous remark, ``I've been driven many times to my knees by 
the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.'' The 
intercessionary prayers that so many Americans make on behalf of the 
President of the United States, in this instance on behalf of me and 
also of my family, they inspire us, and they give us strength. And I 
just wanted you to know that, and Barbara and I are very, very grateful 
to you.
    I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak to this most 
prestigious meeting, to speak with you today on the occasion of your 
50th anniversary. Your theme: Forward in faith. And that says as much 
about your movement, much about what evangelicals have brought to 
America over its lifetime. Evangelicals point our country toward the 
future, and with the diligence and hard work and confidence that only a 
firm faith can provide. In so many crucial ways, your concerns are the 
concerns of your countrymen.
    We agree on the big issues that shape the world and on the values, 
on the values so close to home. I'm talking about jobs, obviously; about 
family; about world peace, for ourselves and, I guess even more 
important, for our kids, for the generations coming along.
    And we agree that we must speak out against racial bigotry and 
against anti-Semitism. And as I stressed in my State of the Union 
Address, it's especially critical in these days of economic difficulty 
to point out that racial bigotry and anti-Semitism simply have no place 
in America.
    You want, as all Americans do, safe streets for your children. You 
want schools where your children can receive the finest possible 
education to prepare them for a life of industry and good citizenship 
and faith in God. And I believe that means that you are entitled to 
choose your children's schools.
    You want a Government that understands the limited role that it must 
play in a Nation of free men and women; a Government that promotes 
economic growth and opportunity; a Government that spends your tax money 
for the common good, and for the common good alone.
    And you want for yourselves and your country that most precious of 
gifts, peace on Earth. You understand that peace comes not from 
vacillation and weakness but from clarity of purpose and from strength. 
The last time a President came before you, I note that it is almost 8 
years to the day, our country was nearing the climax of a titanic 
struggle, the cold war. President Reagan spoke to you then of what 
America must do to win this hard and bitter peace.
    Like you, President Reagan and I understood that the cold war wasn't 
simply some mundane competition between rival world powers. It was a 
struggle for the mind of man. On one side was a system dedicated to 
denying the life of the spirit and celebrating the omnipotence of the 
state. On the

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other was a system founded on a profound truth, that our Creator has 
endowed his children with inalienable rights that no government can 
deny.
    And now, 8 years later, we can say confidently, Americans won the 
cold war. We won it by standing for what's right. Tonight our children 
and grandchildren--and I take great joy in this--tonight our children 
and our grandchildren will go to their beds untroubled by the fears of 
nuclear holocaust that haunted two generations of Americans. In our 
prayers we asked for God's help. I know our family did, and I expect all 
of you did. We asked for God's help. And now in this shining outcome, in 
this magnificent triumph of good over evil, we should thank God. We 
should give thanks.
    By the way, I notice from your Washington newsletter that recently 
even Time magazine called the old Soviet Union an evil empire. Now they 
tell us. [Laughter] I think you will recall only a few years ago when--
many of you know this--about the time when Bill Graham went to the 
Soviet Union. And he came back and told a lot of people, told us of the 
people's hunger for religion. And some did not believe him then. Nobody 
here doubted that, but some across our country simply could not believe 
that. But now, no one doubts him. I know evangelicals understood this 
all along.
    Our victory in the cold war came from the kind of work performed by 
people here in this room. Many of you, many of you bravely brought 
Bibles behind the Iron Curtain, sharing the Word of God with people who 
longed for it. And through your World Relief Corporation and other 
enterprises, you helped resettle thousands who were fleeing oppression. 
Many evangelicals risked their lives to bring theological training where 
such training was forbidden.
    And now in the free countries of the former Communist bloc, your 
work continues to ensure that the vacuum left by communism's demise is 
filled by faith. You and I both know there is more to do in the cause of 
religious freedom, and you have my full support in that effort. Rest 
assured, our country, indeed the world, will be forever grateful for 
what you have done.
    Americans are the most religious people on Earth. And we have always 
instinctively sensed that God's purpose was bound up with the cause of 
liberty. The Founders understood this. As Jefferson put it, ``Can the 
liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only 
firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties 
are the gift of God?'' That conviction is enshrined in our Declaration 
of Independence and in our Constitution. And it's no accident that in 
drafting our Bill of Rights, the Founders dedicated the first portion of 
our first amendment to religious liberty. We rightly emphasize the 
opening clause of that amendment, which forbids government from 
establishing religion. In fact, I believe the establishment clause has 
been a great boon to our country's religious life. One reason religion 
flourishes in America is that worship can never be controlled by the 
state.
    But in recent times we have too often ignored the clause that 
follows, which forbids government from prohibiting the free exercise of 
religion. This myopia has in some places resulted in an aggressive 
campaign against religious belief itself. Some people seem to believe 
that freedom of religion requires government to keep our lives free from 
religion. Well, I believe they're just plain wrong. Our government was 
founded on faith. Government must never promote a religion, of course, 
but it is duty bound to promote religious liberty. And it must never put 
the believer at a disadvantage because of his belief. That is the 
challenge that our administration has undertaken. To be succinct, it is 
my conviction that children have a right to voluntary prayer in the 
public schools.
    And we must hold the line on state intervention in other areas as 
well. Two years ago, for example, we were in a tough fight on Capitol 
Hill over child care legislation. But with the invaluable help of your 
group and of other pro-family organizations, we kept choice of child 
care out of the hands of the Government bureaucrats and kept it where it 
belongs, in the hands of the parents. And you remember the fight, but we 
were determined to help families get the kind of child care they want. 
And that included church-based care. And that's the way the law is now, 
and that's the way it

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should be.
    And we will continue to fight for the parents' right to choose their 
children's schools. School choice is at the heart of America 2000, our 
strategy to literally revolutionize American education. All parents, 
rich or poor, must have the right to choose the kind of education their 
children will receive. And as I've said many times, that must include 
religious-based schools.
    For many years Americans saw another disturbing trend. Judges 
legislating from the bench steadily expanded the power of government 
over the lives of ordinary Americans. Today, I am happy to report to you 
that that trend is over. Over the past 3 years I have appointed more 
than 160 judges who understand the limits of government and the rights 
of parents; judges who punish criminals, not honest cops out trying to 
do their jobs. And I am very proud of the two fine men who have taken 
their place on the Supreme Court since I've been President, Justice 
David Souter and Justice Clarence Thomas.
    We must do everything in our power to preserve the institution that 
nurtures faith, the family. And I am firmly convinced that our greatest 
problems today, from drugs and welfare dependency to crime and moral 
breakdown, spring from the deterioration of the American family. And too 
often, overweening government has aided the tragedy.
    Recently I announced a new Commission to isolate the causes of the 
family's decline. And I did that after meeting with Democratic mayors 
and Republican mayors from the National League of Cities, some from big 
cities, some from small, all saying what I've just said. The fundamental 
problem is the decline of the family, when you look at these urban 
problems. I think you'll agree that I found the right man to lead the 
Commission, your layman of the year last year, Governor John Ashcroft of 
the State of Missouri. John knows the importance that we place on 
strengthening the families. Families must come first in America.
    We must always guard against laws that weaken the family, weaken 
traditional values. And at the same time, we can take positive steps to 
strengthen them. Here's an example that will begin to address the real 
costs of childrearing. I have asked Congress to increase the child tax 
exemption by $500 per child, and I want the Congress to do it now.
    We're also waging war against the forces that would tear the family 
apart. In 1990 alone, our agents from the FBI and Customs and Postal 
Inspection Service won 245 convictions against the smut merchants who 
deal in child pornography. These creatures have been put on notice. 
There is no place in America for this horrifying exploitation of 
children.
    Faith, family: these are the values that sustain the greatest Nation 
on Earth. And to these values we must add the infinitely precious value 
of life itself. Let me be clear: I support the right to life. Six times 
the Congress has sent me legislation permitting Federal funding of 
abortion, and six times I've told them no and vetoed these bills.
    Now we've got another fight. The Democratic Congress has opened up 
yet another front in this battle. Tomorrow they will begin hearings on 
new legislation, and they call it the freedom of choice act. And it 
would impose on all 50 States an unprecedented regime of abortion on 
demand going well beyond even Roe versus Wade. It would block many State 
laws requiring that parents be told about abortions being performed on 
their young daughters, even though the Supreme Court has upheld such 
laws five times. It would override State laws restricting sex-selection 
abortions. And it would severely limit the States' ability to impose 
meaningful restrictions on abortions performed in the 8th or even the 
9th month of pregnancy. This is not right. And it will not become law as 
long as I am President of the United States of America.
    Lincoln once said, ``My concern is not whether God is on our side, 
but whether we are on God's side.'' As President I have often spoken of 
service, not simply public service but personal service, one human being 
coming to the aid of another. And I'm always reminded of a phrase from 
the Book of Common Prayer: ``Oh, God . . . whose service is freedom.'' 
We must be sustained by the confidence that in serving others, in 
promoting the values of faith and family 
and life, we serve Him as well. It is

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this confidence that will enable us to move our country forward in 
faith, and remember, one Nation under God.
    Thank you, and may God bless you and your wonderful work. And thank 
you for having me with you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 11:57 a.m. at the Hyatt 
                        Regency O'Hare Hotel. In his remarks, he 
                        referred to association officers B. Edgar 
                        Johnson, president; Billy Melvin, executive 
                        director; Don Argue, first vice president; David 
                        Rambo, second director; and Robert Dugan, 
                        director of the office of public affairs in 
                        Washington, DC. The President also referred to 
                        evangelist Billy Graham.