President Joe Biden has told a congregation in his home state of Philadelphia that “faith without works is dead.”
Days after saying that “only the Lord almighty” could pluck him from the presidential race, Biden delivered a sermon at Mount Airy Church of God.
“I used to go to 7:30 mass at my church, and then I would show up Reverend Beaman’s — now Bishop Beaman - church - AME church in Wilmington,” the incumbent said. “[I’d] get ready to go out and to make the plans for what we were going to do to change the situation. So, it really is good to be home.”
“Our purpose is to serve others… To know everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. To know faith without works is dead.”
The president was greeted with rapturous applause, as he continued: “We’re all called to be doers of the world. In this nation, that means keeping our eyes on the North Star. The very idea of America - that we’re all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect our entire lives.”
He told the predominantly Black congregation: “We’ve never fully lived up to that, but we’ve never fully walked away from it either. And that’s because of you and generations before you who led the church from slavery to freedom - always praying, always believing that joy cometh in the morning.
“You’ve never given up. In my life and as your president, I’ve tried to walk my faith.”
Since a shaky performance at the first televised presidential debate on 27th June, Biden has faced calls to drop out of the race, including from members of his own party.
Yet he was not the most advanced in age at Mount Airy. The church’s founder, Ernest Morris Sr is 91. When introducing the president, he quipped: “Since you are only an octogenarian, sitting next to a nonagenarian, don’t let anyone talk about your age. You’re a young whippersnapper.”
But outside the church walls, the ‘young whippersnapper’ faced a less sympathetic crowd. One protestor held a sign reading: “Thank U Joe but time to go”, with another telling him to “pass the torch”.