Prayer changes people

PRAYER CHANGES PEOPLE: After Hillary Clinton was elected to the Senate in 2000 she showed up one day at a Senate prayer group that usually drew conservative figures like Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. The speaker that day was Brownback himself, who had planned to talk about how a recent scare with cancer had deepened his faith.

Upon seeing Clinton, he changed his subject. He talked about how he had previously hated her and said derogatory things about her. "Mrs. Clinton, will you forgive me?" he asked. She said she would, and expressed appreciation for his apology. The two unlikely partners subsequently worked together on legislation, including a bill to protect refugees fleeing sexual abuse (Atlantic Monthly, November).

COPYRIGHT 2006 The Christian Century Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning