Religion and politics: GOP’s hopefuls give insight on faith
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential contenders railed against abortion rights Saturday as they courted religious conservatives, promising Christian values would guide their personal decisions and public policies should they win the presidency.
“My faith has guided me for my entire life, and I don’t suspect that’s going to change,” former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said after ticking off a list of abortion restrictions enacted while he led Texas. “No candidate’s done more to protect unborn life.”
Perry was among nearly a dozen presidential hopefuls in Washington this week for one of the nation’s premier gatherings of Christian activists.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called his Catholic faith “an organizing part of my architecture.” Ohio Gov. John Kasich said religion gives him more empathy toward the poor. And Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas cited his Christian values in lashing out at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual conference began the day after nine African-Americans were shot to death inside a historic South Carolina church, offering a grim backdrop to the three-day meeting designed to give religious activists a closer look at the large class of GOP candidates and others considering bids.
Pious ‘better leaders’
Beyond decrying the shooting in South Carolina, presidential prospects offered religious conservatives an intimate look at the role of faith in their public lives.
Speaking on Friday, Bush noted that he converted to Catholicism after marrying his Mexicanborn wife. The religion, he said, has been “an organizing part of my architecture, if you will, as a person and certainly as an elected official.”
He highlighted his work to institute new abortion restrictions during his administration, which included strict parental notification laws and a ban on “partial-birth” abortion. He also cited his fight for the life of Terry Schiavo, a Florida woman kept in a vegetative state for 15 years on life support.
While her husband wanted her feeding tubes removed, Bush ordered the tubes reinserted only to be overruled by a federal court.
“I insisted that we build a culture of life,” Bush said of his eight years as Florida governor.
Asserting that “people of sincere faith make better leaders,” former technology executive Carly Fiorina criticized Democrats for being weak on social issues. “I do not think progressives share our belief in gifts and the dignity of each and every human life,” she said.
Kasich, who is expected to launch a presidential bid in the coming weeks, said his Catholic background pushed him to run for governor.
“I got a calling, folks,” he said Friday in a speech re- ferring to Bible verses from memory more than once.
“What my faith does for me, I hope, is gives me strength,” Kasich told reporters after leaving the stage. “It allows me to have patience, it helps me to love my enemies, it helps me to care more about other people.”
Evangelical influence
The Republican Party’s evangelical wing wields great influence in the selection of the GOP’s presiden- tial nominee, particularly in Iowa and many of the southern states scheduled to host primary contests early in the voting calendar — South Carolina prominent among them.
Exit polls taken during the 2014 midterm elections found 4 in 10 Republican voters were white evangelical Christians, and nearly half attended religious services weekly. Among Democrats, a third attend services weekly, while 11 percent are white born- again Christians.
Conference organizers were largely pleased with the Republicans’ focus on faith, although some said talk is cheap. A real test, they suggested, would come after the Supreme Court weighs in on gay marriage.
“We’ll see who’s offering political sound bites and who shows up when the going gets tough,” said Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.