Donald Trump Meets Evangelicals: Expresses Support for Conservative Issues, Talks about Faith

Donald Trump

Donald Trump met with over 1,000 evangelicals in New York City on June 21st in an exclusive get-together where he answered questions from a diverse group of Christian religious leaders.

The event was organized by non-profit groups My Faith Votes and United in Purpose and was opened by Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson and Pastor Franklin Graham who said an opening prayer before Trump got on stage.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee moderated the event and started by questioning Trump about his family. An NPR correspondent quoted Huckabee as having asked him: "People can fake it on stage, they can walk out and do the happy family moment, but you can't fake that backstage."

To this, Trump replied, "I have great children ... through God they were born intelligent, they all went to great colleges."

He added that he always advised his children not to consume drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. Trump's tip to parents was that if children could go to church, that would be "a tremendous asset."

He said that when he was a kid, going to Sunday school was "like, automatic. Today it isn't. Maybe we can get back into a position where it's automatic."

Trump, who is backed by a segment of Christians and evangelicals, is also opposed by many among the same groups for his careless remarks on a range of issues, and for his dramatic ideas including building a wall between Mexico and US, women to be punished for abortion, and ban on Muslim immigrants after a spate of terrorist attacks.

Speaking about religious freedom, Trump said: "the next president is going to be very vital ... in freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts.. You really don't have religious freedom."

"I think maybe that will be my greatest contribution to Christianity - and other religions - is to allow you, when you talk religious liberty, to go and speak openly, and if you like somebody or want somebody to represent you, you should have the right to do it," he added.

Some well-known leaders at the event included Christian Coalition chief Ralph Reed, Greg Quinlan of the group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, and Southern Baptist Convention former president Ronnie Floyd, among many others.

Reverend E.W. Jackson tweeted a video where Trump is saying, "You can pray for your leaders, and I agree with that - pray for everyone. But what you really have to do is, you have to pray to get everybody out to vote for one specific person."

"And we can't be, again, politically correct and say we pray for all of our leaders, because all of your leaders are selling Christianity down the tubes, selling evangelicals down the tubes," he said, "and it's a very, very bad thing that's happening."

During the meeting, Trump vowed to appoint antiabortion Supreme Court judges and lift the ban on political advocacy by tax-exempt charitable institutions. He did not appear to take sides on the issue of same-sex wedding lawsuits against Christians, and left them at the prerogative of judges.

Meanwhile, Trump has announced a special executive board to advise him on matters of faith and culture.

"The formation of the board represents Donald J. Trump's endorsement of those diverse issues important to Evangelicals and other Christians, and his desire to have access to the wise counsel of such leaders as needed," said Trump's official press release published on the day of his meeting with the evangelicals.

"I have such tremendous respect and admiration for this group and I look forward to continuing to talk about the issues important to Evangelicals, and all Americans, and the common sense solutions I will implement when I am President," Trump said.