Biden praises Black churches, ‘power of faith’ in last of South Carolina events

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Pres- ident Joe Biden on Sunday extolled the existence of Black churches, saying the world would be a different place if they were not around to show people the “power of faith” during dark times.

The Democratic presi- dent spoke at St. John Bap- tist Church on the final day of a two-day visit to South Carolina designed to rally Black voters before the par- ty’s primary on Feb. 3.

Biden visited a predom- inantly Black barbershop and spoke at a state Dem- ocratic Party dinner after he flew in on Saturday. He capped the visit Sunday by addressing worshipers at separate churches.

The president is trying to spread the message that he’s loyal to South Carolina, which saved his campaign in 2020, and that he’s deter- mined to win back Black voters here and elsewhere who were central to put- ting him in office but are less enthused about him this time around.

A practicing Roman Cath- olic who attends Mass every Sunday, Biden praised Black churches in his appearance before the Baptist congre- gation, saying the churches teach the “power of faith.”

He asked the worshipers to imagine “what would have happened if there had been no Black church” to turn to in times of darkness.

“Well, you give us a mountaintop, you give us a promised land, you give us a dream and a faith that we shall overcome, can overcome,” he said, echoing words once spoken by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“And you push us toward a more perfect union, you really do, to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice together, and what a gift to the nation and the world you’ve been.

“Your prayers mean everything,” Biden said.

After he spoke, Biden issued a written statement on the deaths of three U.S. service members and the injuries to many others in a drone strike in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border. He attributed the attack to Iran-backed militia groups.

Later Sunday, the president briefly addressed the drone strike and asked for a moment of silence when he appeared at the banquet hall of Brookland Baptist Church. Biden has a long-standing relationship with Pastor Charles Jackson. Jackson’s wife, Robin, is first lady Jill Biden’s prayer partner.