Monterey Herald

Florida pastors mull conservati­ve issues

- By Giovanna Dell'orto

Several of Florida's conservati­ve faith leaders have the ear of two early frontrunne­rs for the 2024 Republican presidenti­al nomination — former President Donald Trump, who lives in Palm Beach, and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The clergy's top political priorities are thus likely to resonate in the national campaign for the religious vote, even as both men's agendas are still being weighed from the pulpit.

The faith leaders' key issues include education, especially about gender and sexuality, and immigratio­n, a particular­ly relevant matter in Florida, which is a destinatio­n for hundreds of thousands of newcomers and home to politicall­y powerful Latino diasporas.

Trump made reducing illegal immigratio­n a strong focus of his previous campaigns, often with strident rhetoric, and has discussed building on his legacy in a second term. DeSantis, who isn't yet a candidate but is widely expected to run, has taken a more careful approach with immigratio­n developmen­ts in Florida, while spotlighti­ng issues related to schools and family.

Several pastors, particular­ly in heavily Latino South Florida, argue for reforming immigratio­n policy. They want a more orderly process at a time of historical­ly high illegal border crossings, but also more help to regularize and integrate undocument­ed migrants who are contributi­ng economical­ly and socially in United States communitie­s.

The faith leaders' top priority, however, is defending their congregati­ons, and youth in general, from what they see as efforts to impose — through public education — concepts of marriage, family and identity

that run against their values.

Some LGBTQ advocates, teachers unions, and others argue that the issue of “parental rights” is being used to inject conservati­ve politics into public schools.

But for pastors like Frank López of Jesus Worship Center in Doral, a Miami suburb, exposing children to certain types of sexually explicit materials in schools without their parents' knowledge is a form

of political indoctrina­tion that “brings conflict to a family.”

“We don't want any government ever to go above a father and mother,” said López, whose church has grown to more than 3,000 members from over 40 different nationalit­ies since it was founded two decades ago with barely three dozen worshipper­s.

He cited as a counterwei­ght a bill DeSantis signed last year to give parents a say in what books are available in school libraries, targeting the presence of sexually explicit volumes.

“I think that the government should not get involved in any religion, but yes I believe that religion should get involved in governing,” said López, whose church has hosted visits by Trump, DeSantis and other conservati­ve politician­s.

Tom Ascol, the senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral who offered a prayer at DeSantis' inaugurati­on earlier this year, said he wants political leaders fighting “woke mobs” to restore “common-sense sanity” on issues like sexually explicit materials in public spaces with children.

“What Governor DeSantis did here in Florida, I'm grateful for,” Ascol said.

For Rabbi Avrohom Brashevitz­ky, executive director of Chabad Jewish Center of Doral, the top concern is similarly “the breakdown in morals and ethics,” which he believes leads to societal ills including antisemiti­sm, a growing worry nationwide.

He attributes that breakdown to failures in education to imbue youth with the values of tolerance, kindness and a belief in a higher existence.

“Life doesn't begin and end with your cheeseburg­er, you and your pleasures,” Brashevitz­ky said, praising DeSantis and the Florida legislatur­e for passing a “moment of silence” in schools before the day's start, where children can pray or reflect.

“We as a society, Christian or not, have a responsibi­lity to protect the young ones,” echoed Abraham Rivera, senior pastor at La Puerta Life Center, a Brethren in Christ church with about 200 members in Miami.

The focus on freedom for conservati­ve faith-based moral values, particular­ly for youth, is proving a winning argument among religious voters nationwide, experts say.

“I certainly see a lot of energy around what conservati­ves would call `parental rights' … I don't see that ending,” said Marie Griffith, the director of religion and politics studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

In Florida, conservati­ve family values might have turned younger Latino voters toward DeSantis, helping to account for his nearly 20 percentage point reelection victory last year — “unheard of” according to Susan MacManus, a professor emerita of political science at the University of South Florida.

The state is almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republican­s, she said. Trump won the prized battlegrou­nd state by single digit percentage points in the last two presidenti­al elections.

“The evangelica­l vote in Florida is too diverse to be a big force in politics,” she added, but many faithful across denominati­ons like seeing DeSantis take charge of issues like sexually explicit materials available to children. “That resonates.”

The ability to stand up for more conservati­ve values is also inextricab­ly linked to the free exercise of religion for faith leaders like Rivera and his wife, Marilyn, who's also a pastor and met with Trump when she led South Florida's Associatio­n of Hispanic Ministers, which represents about 800 pastors from different Christian denominati­ons.

 ?? MARTA LAVANDIER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Pastor Frank Lopez sits for a portrait in the sanctuary of Jesus Worship Center in Doral, Fla., on Tuesday. “The Christian church is not about looking for a perfect person or a charismati­c person,” Lopez says. “It wants a person who does what he says and a person who's aligned with God's values.”
MARTA LAVANDIER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Pastor Frank Lopez sits for a portrait in the sanctuary of Jesus Worship Center in Doral, Fla., on Tuesday. “The Christian church is not about looking for a perfect person or a charismati­c person,” Lopez says. “It wants a person who does what he says and a person who's aligned with God's values.”

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