Sen. Tim Scott quoted a popular worship song and discussed his Christian faith during a speech to the nation Wednesday night in which he argued President Biden has not delivered on a promise to unite the nation.
Scott, who has represented South Carolina since 2013, made the comments while delivering the Republican response to Biden’s State of the Union address. Scott’s speech quickly became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter, partially because he pushed back on several popular positions of the Left, including on race and the new Georgia voting law.
“America is not a racist country,” said Scott, who is Black.
The country, he said, needs to be unified on important issues. When America “comes together,” he argued, “we’ve made tremendous progress.”
“But powerful forces want to pull us apart,” he said. “A hundred years ago, kids in classrooms were taught the color of their skin was their most important characteristic – and if they looked a certain way, they were inferior. Today, kids again are being taught that the color of their skin defines them – and if they look a certain way, they're an oppressor.
“From colleges to corporations to our culture, people are making money and gaining power by pretending we haven't made any progress,” Scott added. “By doubling down on the divisions we've worked so hard to heal. You know this stuff is wrong. … It's backwards to fight discrimination with different discrimination. And it's wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present.”
The Georgia voting law, Scott asserted, expanded – not restricted – voting rights for citizens.
“The state of Georgia passed a law that expands early voting; preserves no-excuse mail-in voting; and, despite what the president claimed, did not reduce Election Day hours,” he said. “If you actually read this law, it's mainstream. It will be easier to vote early in Georgia than in Democrat-run New York. But the Left doesn't want you to know that. They want people to virtue-signal by yelling about a law they haven't even read. … The president absurdly claims this is worse than Jim Crow. What is going on here?”
Democrats are trying to promote “misstatements” about the Georgia voting law, Scott argued, in order to pass a federal voting law. He dubbed it a “Washington power grab.”
“A president who promised to bring us together should not push agendas that tear us apart,” Scott said.
Referencing a policing reform bill that he sponsored but Democrats opposed, Scott said, “My friends across the aisle seemed to want the issue more than they wanted a solution.”
Scott urged Americans to come together and find solutions to the nation’s problems.
“We are not adversaries. We are family. We are all in this together,” he said. “And we get to live in the greatest country on Earth. The country where my grandfather, in his 94 years, saw his family go from cotton to Congress in one lifetime. So I am more than hopeful. I am confident that our finest hour is yet to come.”
Alluding to slavery in America, Scott said, “Original sin is never the end of the story. Not in our souls, and not for our nation. The real story is always redemption.
“I am standing here because my mom has prayed me through some very tough times,” he said.
Scott ended his speech by quoting a popular worship song, The Blessing, by Elevation Worship, Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes. The song, he said, “helped me through this past year.”
“May the Lord bless you and keep you. Make His face shine upon you. And be gracious to you. May His presence go before you, and behind you, and beside you. In your weeping and you rejoicing. He is with you. May His favor be upon our nation for a thousand generations. And your family and your children. And their children.
“Good night, and God bless.”
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Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Mark Wilson/Staff
Video courtesy: ©CNBC
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
