Remarks at the Foundry United Methodist Church

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Jan 15, 2001

I will also do my best to keep working for peace and reconciliation among people across their differences, to find ways to get people to move beyond tolerance to celebration of those differences. I know it's sort of out of fashion, but I've kind of grown impatient with the word "tolerance," because tolerance implies that someone who's better than someone else is decent enough to put up with them. And I think we need to move beyond that.

We are moving into the most incredible era of human affairs the world has ever known, in terms of our interdependence, our capacity to relate to people across national and cultural and religious lines, and our ability to use these breathtaking advances in technology with advances in biomedical sciences to lengthen and improve lives in ways that previously are literally unimaginable.

And yet, the biggest threat we face is the oldest problem of humankind, the fear of the other, which can so easily lead to hatred and dehumanization and violence but, even if it doesn't go that far, limits the lives all of us might otherwise live.

And I have spent a lot of time, as you might have noticed, in a reasonably combative arena. I am not without my competitive instincts. A lot of days I thought just showing up was an act of competition. [Laughter] But I do believe in the end, when all is said and done, what matters most is what we did that was common to our humanity. And somehow, I will do everything I can to advance that simple but powerful idea at home and around the world.

I will also do my best to support my Senator and our daughter. And I will try to keep learning and growing, working to follow the example of the mythic Parsifal, a good man slowly wise.

Thanks to the good people of New York, as Phil said, this is not really a goodbye but the beginning of a new chapter in our lives with Foundry. But it is a new chapter. So let me thank you again for letting all of us, Hillary, Chelsea, and me, make this part of our life's journey with you, for your constant reminder in ways large and small that though we have all fallen short of the glory, we are all redeemed by faith in a loving God.

God bless you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 11:40 a.m. In his remarks, he referred to Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, senior minister, Foundry United Methodist Church; Bishop Felton Edwin May, Washington Episcopal Area of the Methodist Church; and Washington, DC, City Councilmember Jack Evans, Ward 2, and his wife, Noel Soderherg Evans. Rev. Wogaman also serves as a spiritual counselor to the President, along with Rev. Gordon MacDonald and Rev. Tony Campolo.