WASHINGTON: Former US president Donald Trump urged evangelical Christians Saturday to voting en masse for him in November, vowing to “aggressively” protect their spiritual liberty if he is elected.
The former president, who hardly ever appears in the church, has established a stronghold among the spiritual straight, promising and delivering on some of their top priorities, including appointing Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the national right to abortion.
” The evangelicals and the Christians, they do n’t vote as much as they should”, Trump told hundreds of supporters at a Washington conference put on by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative advocacy group.
” They go to church every Sunday, but they do n’t vote”, he said, adding in a half- joke that “in four years, you do n’t have to vote. Okay? In four years, do n’t vote. I do n’t care”.
Due to sentence limitations, Trump would not be eligible to run for president in 2028.
Christian voters were essential for Trump’s 2016 defeat and again in his unsuccessful 2020 battle, when 84 percent of light evangelical Protestants voted for him, according to the Pew Research Center.
On Saturday, Trump vowed to “aggressively support religious freedom,” vowing to protect their interests.
” We will defend Catholics in our schools, in our defense, in our state, in our offices, in our hospitals and in our common square”, he told followers.
He also promised to produce” a new national task force on fighting anti- Holy bias” that had investigate supposed “illegal discrimination, harassment, persecution” of US Christians.
According to a Pew Research survey released in March, almost half ( 49 % ) of Americans believe that religion’s influence is declining in the country.
In 2022, less than two-thirds of Americans will identify as Christians, largely as a result of rising numbers of people who do n’t practice any religion. The number of Americans who identify as Christians dropped from nearly 90 percent in the 1990s to less than two-thirds in 2022.
It is crucial that church maintains its relevance in common life for some light evangelical Christians, a conservative group that accounts for roughly 14 % of US citizens.
Trump claimed to the audience that the social left wanted to” silence you, intimidate you, and keep you out of politicians.”
” They do n’t want you to vote, that’s why you have to vote”, he said, adding “if you vote, no, we cannot lose”.
Trump will face his Democratic competitor, President Joe Biden, in the first 2024 national debate on Thursday.
