Jindal headlines all-day prayer rally in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. Bobby Jindal told Christian evangelicals gathered at an all-day prayer rally Saturday that the nation needs a “spiritual revival,” as he continued to court religious conservatives for a possible presidential campaign.
The rally attracted thousands to the basketball arena on LSU’s campus but drew controversy both because of the group hosting it, the American Family Association, and Jindal’s well-advertised headlining appearance.
The two-term Republican governor opened the event by urging a revival to “begin right here, right here in our hearts.” Later Saturday afternoon, he described his conversion to Christianity as a teenager.
While people sang, raised their hands in prayer and gave their personal testimonies inside the arena, hundreds more protested the event outside early in the day.
Jindal insisted the rally was a religious event, not a political one — even as participants prayed for religion to guide political decision-making.
“Today is about hum- bling ourselves before the Lord. Today we repent for our sins,” he said. Later Jindal told attendees: “We can’t just elect a candidate to fix our country. … We need a spiritual revival to fix our country.”
Jindal has held meetings with pastors in the key presidential campaign states of Iowa and New Hampshire and spoken at gatherings of faith leaders and conservative activists in several states, trying to gain traction among a crowded field of potential candidates in the hunt for the 2016 GOP nomination.