{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/listen-warnock-discusses-dual-role-of-pastor-in-the-senate-on-nprs-humankind/", "LISTEN:\u00a0Warnock Discusses Dual Role of Pastor in the Senate On NPR\u2019s Humankind", "2025-11-17", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "GA", "Raphael G. Warnock", "W000790", "www.warnock.senate.gov", "warnock", "https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Senator Reverend Warnock sat down with long-time NPR radio host David Freudberg to talk about the current political discourse and rhetoric on NPR\u2019s Humankind podcast\n\nDuring the conversation, Senator Warnock discussed how faith and service are intertwined in his work serving as the first Black Senator from Georgia\n\nSenator Reverend Warnock: \u201cOrdinary people can change the world, can be a force in human history\u201d\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Recently, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) sat down with David Freudberg, host of NPR\u2019s Humankind podcast. During the conversation, the two discussed the role of Senator Warnock\u2019s faith and some of his mentors have played in his work serving as the first Black Senator from Georgia.\n\n\u201cOrdinary people can change the world, can be a force in human history, and it is a reminder, when in moments like these, I\u2019m reminded that evil always goes too far, and therefore it contains within itself the seed of its own destruction. We just have to help it, and so I\u2019m going to keep pushing, and I\u2019m going to keep the faith,\u201d said Senator Warnock.\n\nThe two also talked about the alarming rise in violent political speech and rhetoric.\n\n\u201cYou know, the wonderful thing about a democracy is that we have noisy arguments, rambunctious arguments, and we have to remind ourselves that the reason we have those noisy arguments is to avoid violence. We shouldn\u2019t have the arguments in order to encourage violence, but we have those arguments instead of war, instead of violence. It\u2019s something that I take very seriously,\u201d the Senator continued.\n\nThe episode is available to listen to HERE on NPR.\n\nSee below transcripts of key excerpts from the interview:\n\nSenator Warnock on the role faith plays in the political discourse:\n\n(DF): \u201cWhere does God\u2019s power enter into the picture?\u201d\n\n(SRW): \u201cOh, it\u2019s always in the midst of the struggle. If you want to see God, it\u2019s in the story of Jesus, born in Bethlehem, raised in a forgotten place called Nazareth. It\u2019s always in the faces of the poor and in the faces of ordinary people who are struggling.\u201d\n\n(DF): \u201cAnd does that empower the struggle?\u201d\n\n(SRW): \u201cYes, it certainly does. I think it is the recognition that ordinary people can change the world, can be a force in human history, and it is a reminder, when in moments like these, I\u2019m reminded that evil always goes too far, and therefore it contains within itself the seed of its own destruction. We just have to help it, and so I\u2019m going to keep pushing, and I\u2019m going to keep the faith,\u201d\n\nSenator Warnock on the rise in violent speech and rhetoric:\n\nSenator Reverend Warnock (SRW): \u201cYou know, the wonderful thing about a democracy is that we have noisy arguments, rambunctious arguments, and we have to remind ourselves that the reason we have those noisy arguments is to avoid violence. We shouldn\u2019t have the arguments in order to encourage violence, but we have those arguments instead of war, instead of violence. It\u2019s something that I take very seriously.\u201d\n\nSenator Warnock on the legacy of Congressman John Lewis:\n\n(SRW): \u201cOn the night before the funeral, I asked myself, \u2018What was John Lewis thinking about when he crossed that Edmund Pettus Bridge?\u2019 He and Hosea Williams, you\u2019ve seen it as a classic tape, wearing nothing but a trench coat and a backpack on his back. \u2018What were they thinking?\u2019 Brute force on the other side of that bridge, police officers with billy clubs, cattle prod. They were outgunned. They were outmanned, they were outfinanced, and yet they kept walking across that bridge. What was John Lewis thinking? I asked myself the night before his funeral, was he thinking that one day he would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Of course not, if you ever knew John Lewis, he wasn\u2019t vain enough to think that. Was he thinking that one day he would be hailed as an American hero, and that at his funeral three American presidents on both sides of the aisle would attend?\u201d\n\n\u201cI think John Lewis was just trying to stay alive that day so he could live to fight the next day.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/listen-warnock-discusses-dual-role-of-pastor-in-the-senate-on-nprs-humankind/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.5213088374584913, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}