Virginia Foxx - God Is in the House: Congressional Testimonies of Faith

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2016 Virginia Foxx

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Name: Foxx, Virginia, 1943 compiler.

Title: God is in the House : congressional testimonies of faith / compiled by Virginia Foxx, Ed.D., member of Congress

Description: Salt Lake City, Utah : Ensign Peak, [2016] | ?2016 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016003790 (print) | LCCN 2016012420 (ebook) | ISBN 9781629722375 (paperbound : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781629734545 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: LegislatorsReligious lifeUnited States. | LegislatorsUnited StatesBiography. | United States. Congress. HouseBiography. | Faith.

Classification: LCC JK1319 .G636 2016 (print) | LCC JK1319 (ebook) | DDC 270.092/273dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016003790

Printed in the United States of America

Edwards Brothers Malloy, Ann Arbor, MI

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Book design 2016 Ensign Peak.

Art direction: Richard Erickson

Cover design: Sheryl Dickert Smith

Cover image: Shutterstock Dan Thornberg

Foreword

These comments were originally delivered at a Catholic Prayer Breakfast in May 2016. But since the message is universal, I felt that it might also be of value to readers of this book.

Thomas Aquinas once wrote, It should be known that all right-thinking men (clearly, he never ran for office) make contemplation of God the end of human life.

In other words, the purpose of human life our purposeis to know God, period, whatever your circumstances in liferich or poor, strong or weak, famous or obscure. It is not that faith inspires you to work hard or raise a family or achieve your goalsthough it very well mightbut faith is its own reward also.

These days religious liberty is under assault. A lot of people think faith is just an odd, colorful mask for the ugly face of intolerance. I am not saying we should feel put upon. I mean, saints were thrown to the lions; by that standard, we have it easy. What I am saying is that we have to advocate for our faith. And we should defend religious liberty not just on material groundsthat is, because people of faith do good things, like give to charity or volunteer. We should also defend it on spiritual groundsthat is, because living out our faith gives us joy.

What people of faith understand is there is more to life than what we can see and hear. And there is nothing more life-changing than coming to know the Lord. Once you realize that there is a God and that He is good and that He loves younot just humanity at large, but you , the personyou realize that you are not alone. You are not just a body. You are body and soul. And life is not just a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing ( Macbeth, 5.5.2728). Life is full of meaning. That is why prayer is so important. It is the hotline to heaven. And that is why we object when government restricts religious liberty: When faith is ruled out of bounds, then happiness itself is put out of reach.

If you need an example, look no further than the Little Sisters of the Poor. I believe they are doing a noble work. And yet the administration has been trying to force them to offer benefits that violate their beliefs. The sisters have tried to negotiate with the administration, and frankly, its response has shown a total misunderstanding of faith.

On their website, the sisters have a cartoon strip that illustrates the disagreement perfectly. A sister and a bureaucrat are debating the issue.

The bureaucrat says, You offer the stuff you object to in your plan and well pay for it.

The sister replies, Our concern isnt the cost but the morality.

The bureaucrat says, No, were offering to pay for it, so your conscience is clear.

The sister respondsin big, bold lettersThats not the way it works.

They should not have to participate in any way in something that violates their beliefseven if it seems like a formality. But thats the problem: The administration seems to believe only in a material world, where the only stuff that matters is dollars and cents.

But thats a cold, unfeeling world to live in. And thats not the kind of country that our Constitution envisions.

Why is this even an issue? Because I actually think religious liberty is going to make a comebackbecause there is a growing need for faith. Let me give you one example. Over the past four years, Ive met with a lot of people struggling with addiction. Not everyone is the same, but what a lot of them will tell you is that they feel a deep, gnawing pain inside and they turn to drugs to escape it. Eventually, they realize the only way to escape the pain is to turn to God. So when I see people struggling with addictiondo they need the best medical care? Absolutely, yes. But a lot of them need something more.

For a lot of them, that pain stems from loneliness, from a feeling that no one loves them, that they dont matter. And it wasnt until I met some of them face to face that I realized we all feel that loneliness at some level. We all feel that distance from God. What is sin but a turning away from Him? We sometimes forget this because were more comfortable. When you have a good-paying job or a happy family, it is tempting to think, I dont do drugs. I dont commit crimes. I dont have it as bad as other people. Im a good person.

That, of course, is the exact wrong way to think. It is the sin of pride.

It reminds me of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, which I kept a copy of in my briefcase for years. Uncle Screwtape, a demon, is teaching a young devil how to turn a man to sin. At one point Screwtape says, Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, By jove! Im being humble ([HarperCollins, 1996], 69). If you ask me, Screwtape could have been a great political consultant.

The point is, I believe it was my faith that brought me to this realization: We all are sinners. We all need God. So it is not enough to create more jobs or raise peoples wagesthough we should do that too. There is a spiritual void that we need to fill. Perhaps poverty is Gods way of leading us to contemplate something higher. The way I see it, the fight against poverty and the need for religious liberty go hand in hand.

Ill close with this: When you meet people who have beaten addiction, most of them say, It wasnt me, it was God. They know the true source of their success. In their struggles, they have to come know Himand find happiness.

And now weve come full circle. Every good work is the work of God. It is His grace working inside us. And when you realize that, you not only lose your pride, you lose any sense of despair. I believe thats the meaning of true happinessat least in this world. It is not a cheap thrill or temporary exuberance: It is a deep, abiding inner peace.

And what gives us that peace is coming to know God. Thats what I think Aquinas was saying.