Trump spent more than an hour taking questions from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, one of his vanquished rivals in the GOP primary, and other well-known conservative evangelical figures like James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family. Some speakers encouraged the crowd to support Trump, while acknowledging that doing so might be difficult for many of them. “He doesn’t expect you to agree with him on every issue or to endorse or condone his style of leadership,” said Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, who was one of the first nationally known evangelical Christians to endorse Trump.
Reporters were not allowed into this event, but audio recordings of the proceedings were given to Yahoo News by multiple attendees. The following is a rough transcript of the event, lightly edited for clarity. It picks up during an unknown man’s introductory remarks.
Unidentified: As I sat there this morning — we just spent time with Dr. Carson and the next president of the United States, Donald Trump — I thought about two Bible verses. And I’m going to paraphrase just a bit. One is, “For such a time as this,” and the other one is this one, a commandment from our Savior, when he said, “Call unto me, and I will do great and mighty things that you do not know.” Think about that. “Call unto me, and I will do great and mighty things that you do not know.”
I have known Donald Trump since about 2 1/2 months before Barron was born. I know his family. I recently put out an article across the country, told the agriculture and rancher community that I believe America needs a chief executive officer in the White House. [Applause.] I think that to win this election, on the Republican side, we have to think out of the box. And we have to be strategic. And we have to pray like it all depends upon God and work like it all depends upon us.
It is an honor for me to introduce to you someone who is a great, great friend to all of us. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Ben Carson. [Applause]
Ben Carson: Thank you. And thank all of you for coming out, altering your schedules, and having faith that this would be a good investment of your time. You know, America is such an incredible place. It’s been such an incredible place for me, coming born to poverty. My main goal was to become middle class. I’d think, wow, if I could just be middle class, that would be so cool. This is a place that allows you, no matter where you came from, if you’re willing to work hard and play by the rules, to define your own destiny. And that’s so important for us to make sure it stays that way. You know, this election that’s coming up, this is about America and about what America represents. This is what we have got to get people to understand. There are so many people who say, “I don’t like Donald Trump” or “I don’t like Hillary Clinton” or “I don’t like whoever.” But it’s not about Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. This is about whether this will be a nation that is of, for and by the people — not of, for and by the government.
You know, we all think that we have the special word from God. But the fact of the matter is, this is like a chess match, and God is the great grand master. We’re the spectators. We all think, it’s time for him to cancel right now, or to take that bishop with that rook, or to use that knight. But sometimes he uses a pawn, sometimes he does things in a way that is not very apparent to us. And that’s where faith comes in. Because God sets up the rulers, and he takes them down. We just need to be willing to understand that, because you look, for instance, in the case of Donald Trump. Just as an example. I’ll pick him out of the air. [Laughter]
Here’s a person who, it seemed like every week, the pundits were saying, “That’s it — he’ll never recover from that. It’s all over.” And then he’d go up in the polls. What that says to me is that God has something to do with what is going on right now. The week before last, I was on CNN with Jake Tapper, and he was saying, “You know, even [radio host] Hugh Hewitt is saying that Donald Trump is a terrible candidate and he can’t win. And he’s not a Democrat. He’s one of you guys.” And I said, “Is he a pundit?” And he said, “Well, yeah, he’s a pundit.” I said, “You should do a special program on how many times over the last two years, the pundits have been right. It’ll be a short program.” [Laughter] The look on his face was priceless after that.
If we go away from this meeting with the understanding that you all, who have tremendous spheres of influence, had an opportunity to hear the heart of Donald Trump on a lot of different issues … Through the questions, he will have an opportunity to hear your heart, and he heard several different leaders this morning talk about what’s on their heart. We need to just keep in mind that Hillary Clinton, when she was in college, was on a first-name basis with Saul Alinsky, who was her hero. Saul Alinsky, who wrote the book Rules for Radicals. If you haven’t read it, please read it. You need to know who you’re dealing with. And on the dedication page, guess who it acknowledges? Lucifer, who gave his own kingdom as a radical. [Moans from the audience]
This is who we are dealing with, ladies and gentlemen. You know, the ship is about to sail off Niagara Falls, full of passengers and everybody’s about to be killed. You know what we have to do? We have to stop the ship — number one. Number two, we have to turn it around. And number three, we have to sail in the other direction. There are a lot of people who think you can do all of that at the same time. You cannot. First, let’s stop the ship. Let’s do that this fall in massive numbers. We can then turn it around. We can then sail it in the other direction. I’m not going to tell you who you should vote for. I’m just telling you to use your brain. There’s a reason that God gave us these very sophisticated brains, made in His image. And it should be very apparent who is interested in religious liberty and who is interested in taking those things away from us. But we are the ones who make the determination. It’s time for us to put the stake in the ground, and not sit down and shut up like they want us to do. But to stand up for our faith. Thank you. [Applause]
To get us started, I want to introduce a good friend, a wonderful individual who you all know. We met decades ago and have had the pleasure — Candy and I — of actually being flown by him in an airplane. He’s a pilot as well as a great evangelist. He’s a person of strong conviction who does not believe in political correctness, which makes him a hero in my book. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dr. Franklin Graham.
Franklin Graham (president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association): Thank you. It’s been my privilege these last few months to travel across the country, to hold prayer rallies at state capitals, on their steps. When we first pulled out permits, we pulled them for 500 people, but we had no clue how many would come. Thousands and thousands gathered, in the cold in some places, early in the year in snow, in rain. We had thousands come to pray. Not to hear me, but they’d come to pray because they know our country is in trouble. And ladies and gentlemen, I don’t need to convince you of that — you know that. And as we look at who is to be the next president of the United States, many people are looking at qualities. And I’d like to take just a moment to look at the Bible.
Some of the individuals are our patriarchs: Abraham — great man of faith. But he lied. Moses led his people out of bondage, but he disobeyed God. David committed adultery and then he committed murder. The Apostles turned their back on the Lord Jesus Christ in his greatest hour of need, they turned their backs and they ran. Peter denied him three times. All of this to say, there is none of us is perfect. We’re all guilty of sin. Franklin Graham stands here in front of you today as a sinner. But I’ve been forgiven by God’s grace. He forgave me. I invited Christ to come into my heart and my life. He forgave me. There’s no perfect person — there’s only one, and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ. And he’s not running for president of the United States. This year.
So I would just like to open up with a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you love us. Thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ from heaven to this earth to save us. To save us from our sins. Thank you that he took our sins to that cross, that you raised him to life, thank you, Father. And, Father — as we look at this nation, as we look at the trouble that we’re in — Father, we recognize as a people that we have failed. We have sinned. And we ask for your forgiveness, Father. And, Father, we pray this election that you will give a man to be the president of this country who will honor life, who will respect our Constitution, who will respect the authority of the office. And, Father, we pray that your will will be done. And, Father, we ask now that you would bless this meeting and this time together, as Mr. Trump is able to answer questions. And, Father, we pray that each one here today will leave this room with a new appreciation of this man and this family. So, Father, we thank you. And in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
I would like to introduce now a very good friend of mine. Jerry Falwell Jr., who doesn’t need an introduction. He has one of the great universities, that his father started, that he has taken it to a whole new level. My three sons found their wives at Liberty University, and so I owe a great debt to Jerry’s daddy, who is now in heaven and I’m sure he’s watching us today. But he is a great friend, and I have a lot of respect for Jerry Falwell Jr. Jerry, come.
Jerry Falwell Jr. (president of Liberty University): Franklin mentioned that his three sons came to Liberty. He didn’t mention that the youngest of the three spent more time out at our farm than he did studying. I wrote many notes for him, excusing him for not being ready for a test. But he made it through, and we love the whole Franklin Graham family.
But first, I want to get Gov. Mike Huckabee to come out and sit on the platform, get ready. He’s going to be the moderator this morning. [Applause] Gov. Huckabee was telling us at dinner last night how in 1979, Ronald Reagan addressed a group just like this, and he told the group, “I understand that the rules in many cases don’t allow you to endorse me, but I’m here to endorse you and what you believe.” That changed the tide of that election, and I see some folks with gray hair nodding who remember that. It was great to be reminded of that last night by the governor. It’s my distinct honor and privilege to welcome a man who I’ve introduced twice at Liberty University. And over the last four years, my wife and I have remained in close contact with Mr. Trump. As our friendship has grown, so has my admiration for Mr. Trump. As you know, Liberty University does not support or oppose candidates for public office — a lawyer makes me say that — but I personally feel strongly that Donald Trump is God’s man to lead our nation at this crucial crossroads in our country’s history. [Applause]
Many of you knew my father well. He loved God, loved his country. He was criticized in the early 1980s for supporting Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter because Reagan was a Hollywood actor who had been married and divorced and remarried. Jimmy Carter was a Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher. He later was criticized for supporting George Bush Sr. over his good friend the Rev. Pat Robertson. But he proudly replied to those criticisms that when Jesus said render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, that meant we are to be good citizens, voting, active in the political process, serving in our armed forces, if necessary. And while Jesus never told us how to vote, he gave us all the good common sense to choose the best leaders. Sunday was Father’s Day. My family made it a very special day for me. It reminded me of some of the things my father said that seem particularly relevant today. In 2006, when there was first talk of Hillary Clinton running for president, he said, “I hope Hillary is the candidate because nothing will energize my constituency like Hillary Clinton.” He said, “If Lucifer himself ran, that wouldn’t work as well.”
His last national interview was with Christiane Amanpour of CNN just a few days before his death in 2007, and in that interview he joked that he had dreamed recently that Chelsea Clinton had interviewed him and asked him what are the three greatest threats facing our nation. He replied, “Osama, Obama, and your mama.” Now Osama’s gone, Obama’s on his way out, and we have the chance to make sure that Chelsea’s mama goes out of politics with them.
In the last presidential election, there were 25 million Christians who were registered but who didn’t bother to show up at the polls. We are the single most influential voting bloc. My father’s polarizing statements made people who didn’t know him think that he was tough and mean, but he was anything but. People who knew him personally attested to the fact that he helped people in need. He couldn’t keep any money in his pocket because he gave it away to whoever needed some help. And he gave away so many scholarships at Liberty University, he nearly bankrupted the school. But I’ve come to see many of these same qualities in Donald Trump. I want to introduce you to the Donald Trump that I know, to tell you why I trust him. Not Donald Trump in the media, or of his critics. I’ve seen a man who honors his fiduciary responsibilities through his corporations. He makes tough decisions to ensure his businesses’ success. He speaks the truth publicly even if it is uncomfortable for people to hear. Yet he treats his friends, his employees, and people in need with the greatest respect, loyalty and generosity.
I gave many examples of Mr. Trump’s personal generosity when I welcomed him to Liberty University earlier this year. Ecclesiastes 3:8 says that there is a time for war and a time for peace. Now it is, from my perspective, the time for peace. To me this election is very simple. We have an election between someone who promises he will support issues important to us as Christians, including appointing justices to the Supreme Court who would make us all proud. That’s Donald Trump. And someone who promises she will do just the opposite. That’s Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump is a breath of fresh air in a nation where the political establishment of both parties has betrayed their constituencies time and time again with broken promises and a continuation of the status quo. Mr. Trump is a bold and fearless leader who will take the fight to our enemies, and to the radical Islamic terrorists, whether they attack in San Bernardino, Orlando or Paris. Or whether they simply just steal American jobs through unfair trade practices.
The day after Ronald Reagan became president, Iran released American hostages that had been held for 444 days. In my opinion, the day after Trump becomes president, every terrorist in the world will crawl under a rock in similar fashion. He is here because no leader leads alone. He wants to hear from you, from us, and he has been a friend to this community. He is and has been a friend. He doesn’t expect you to agree with him on every issue or to endorse or condone his style of leadership. If we all wait for the perfect candidate who has the demeanor of our pastors and agrees with us on every issue — including our personal theological beliefs — then we may all sit at home on Election Day for the rest of our lives. How many of you can honestly say that you agree with your spouse on everything? I know I can’t. Donald Trump shuns the censorship that is rooted in political correctness and speaks the plain common-sense truth that so many have been longing to hear. The mainstream press expected this to end his candidacy early on, but it did just the opposite. He soared in the polls and now is the presumptive Republican nominee.
Liberty University is a unique institution because unlike most nonprofit universities, we try to operate like a business, emphasizing efficiency, treating students like customers. As general counsel at Liberty in my younger years, we fought to survive. I spent many days negotiating with creditors and spent many weekends with my father, begging and borrowing from lenders and donors to cover the paychecks that we had already written on the Friday before. But by applying common-sense business principles with an entrepreneurial spirit, we finally saw success. In just the last five years, Liberty has become one of only about 70 universities in the country that are rated AA or AAA by Standard and Poors and Moody’s. The Chronicle of Higher Education in February of the past year predicted that Liberty’s business model could become the future of higher education. It was reported in the Richmond Times just this week that Liberty has bucked the trend of divestment in Israel by many major institutions by doing just the opposite and investing many millions of dollars of our endowment in Israel.
Donald Trump is the only candidate in this election who has achieved independent financial success. He’s not a puppet on a string like the other candidate, who has wealthy donors — some from countries who oppress women and gays — as her puppet masters. And that’s a key reason why so many voters are attracted to him. Imagine how wonderful it would be for once that the United States of America has as its president a man who has built companies from scratch, who knows what it feels like to be solely responsible for finding the money each week to cover payroll, who runs the nation with the same entrepreneurial business principles that have brought success to his own companies. You know, our Founding Fathers envisioned a nation governed by citizen legislators, and I believe the American public is finally ready to elect a candidate who is not a career politician, but rather who has succeeded in life, in the real life, in the real world. Please welcome a man who I pray earnestly will be the next president of the United States, Mr. Donald J. Trump. [Applause]
Mike Huckabee: Mr. Trump, I want to begin by expressing appreciation to you for coming and being willing to sit at the assembly of some of the great spiritual leaders and faith leaders in America. And I’m pretty sure I’m right when I say that I don’t think Hillary is gonna have a meeting like this, where she’s willing to sit down with the faith community, answer questions, and speak from the heart to the people of our country. I want to say, on behalf of all these folks who are gathered, thank you. [Applause]
Donald Trump: This began as just a little event. Ben Carson came up — we love Ben. We’ve become really, really great friends. He said, “Would it be possible? We have some religious leaders, we have some great evangelicals, good Christians, and just a small gathering. Maybe 100 people. I figured 15-20 minutes, maybe half an hour to see them.” I said, “Absolutely, Ben. It’d be my honor.” And this came out to be over 1,000 people. And you know what? That shows we all love each other, and that’s so important. Ben is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever met. He said, “Do you think you can keep it going longer than the time?” And I said, “Absolutely.” So we’re gonna spend as much time as we need today.
Huckabee: I think it’s fair to say that we’re all happy to be here, but Ben Carson and I aren’t as happy to be here. [Laughter] We are here today because the people of America have overwhelmingly decided that you should be the nominee of the Republican Party. I want to make sure that you know that people have not come to this room as an imposition. They’ve not come to this room to try to trap you or trick you. They’ve come to this room because they want to be behind somebody who will lead this nation out of the abyss that we have been in for eight years.
We’re gonna have a number of questions from delightful individuals who have carefully thought through the questions they want to ask. We’re going to get to as many of them as we humanly can. We’ll try to keep the questions as short as possible, and the answers brief and to the point, so that we can get to everybody. Before we go to the individual questions, there’s something that I want to say to you and ask you to respond to it. Because it’s something that I saw, in a way that most people would not have seen. Because if they weren’t on the stage during the presidential debates and also backstage, they would not have seen what I saw, what Ben Carson saw.
The relationship that you have with your family, the relationship and bond that you have with your adult children, is one of the most admirable I’ve ever seen from any father with children. [Applause] People can fake it onstage — they can walk out and do a happy family moment — but you can’t fake that backstage, over and over again. What I saw was real. And it was one of the reasons that I have had no hesitation endorsing you, supporting you, and enthusiastically encouraging people to get behind your candidacy. We’re going to talk about a lot of issues. But I want you to begin today by expressing: What is it about the relationship you have with your children that is so special? What is that bond all about?
Trump: Well, thank you very much. That’s such a nice question. I have great children. I mean, I have really five wonderful children. Three of them are now … well, Eric is right here. Through God, they were born intelligent. They went to top colleges. That’s really a part of it, because in a certain way, you have to be lucky with that, to be honest. Maybe it’s not luck. I think it’s more than luck. They were all very good students. I better knock on wood when I say all this stuff, because I’ll get a call — “Did you know about this?” It’s a vicious world out there, folks.
So many of my friends who have children who are very, very smart, they’ve got everything going, family’s got money, and everything’s fine. And they’ll call me up and say, “Will you see my son, will you see my daughter? Because I love the way your children are.” I get a lot of compliments on the children. And I have to say, the thing that I always tell parents is — because I’m asked to speak about it — is I would from the time they were little children — I mean, they didn’t even know what the words meant. “No drugs, no alcohol,” and I’d say, “No cigarettes,” I’d add it in. Because if you don’t have to smoke, it’s an advantage, OK? But “no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes,” always. And it would drive them crazy. They’d say, “Dad, stop!” I remember Ivanka just going, “I can’t take it!” She didn’t even know what drugs and alcohol were. But I’d drum it — Eric can tell you. I’d drum it into them because I’ve seen so many children who are as smart as you can get, the highest IQs, everything else. It’s over because they got hooked on something. It’s such a competitive world. It’s more dangerous than ever, the most dangerous we’ve ever had — that’s why we need to take care of our military, we have to take care of all our things. We’re not going to be here, we can only do so much. But I always tell people, “No drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes.”
And I add to some — if it’s appropriate: I say, if they go to church and if they start at a young age, that’s a tremendous asset. You don’t see that too much today, where I went to Sunday school at First Presbyterian Church in [unintelligible]. It was like, you go to Sunday school, you have to do that. It’s not like, oh gee. It’s like automatic. Today, I don’t think it’s so automatic. And maybe we can get back into a position where it’s automatic. [Applause]
The government has gotten so involved in your religion. Especially your religion, that it makes it very difficult. We’ll talk about that. Mike and I have been discussing it, and I think we have some very important things to say. The next president — it’s going to be vital. Not only with Supreme Court justices, which we’ll also talk about at length. But also in things like freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts, freeing up your. … You talk about religious liberty and religious freedom. You really don’t have religious freedom, if you really think about it, because when President Johnson had his tenure, he passed something that makes people very, very nervous to even talk to preserve their tax-exempt status. It’s taken a lot of power away from Christianity and other religions. I’ve seen it. This is something that I’ve brought up. I was telling Mike, I’ve been meeting with Paula White, who’s been so involved, Pastor Paula — she’s over here. And Darrell Scott and Pastor Burgess. We were at a meeting of 50 ministers, pastors, Christians, two rabbis. I said, “Why is it that the whole thing with Christianity, it’s not going in the right direction? It’s getting weaker, weaker, weaker from a societal standpoint?” And over the course of various meetings, I realized that there are petrified ministers and churches. They speak before 25,000 people, the most incredible speakers you could ever see, better than any politician by far. And yet when it comes to talking about it openly or who they support or why they support somebody because he’s a person — a man or a woman — who is into their values, they’re petrified to do it.
And I couldn’t get the answer. And then one day, at one of our meetings, somebody said, “They’re petrified of losing their tax-exempt status.” And I said, “What is that all about?” And they went into it. It was what happened during the Johnson administration. And I will tell you folks that some of you will agree, some of you will disagree, and some of you, it’s been ingrained and that’s the worst thing because you don’t even think about it. You can’t see the forest for the trees, some of you are so close to it. But I can tell you, I watched this during the last year, and I watched fear in the hearts of brave, incredible people. And we are going to get rid of that, because you should have the right to speak. [Applause]
Huckabee: You mentioned Paula White. The two of you have been very close personally. She’s been like a spiritual counselor and adviser. It’s not something you go around talking about all the time. One of the things I’d say to all the people here: My conversations with Paula, who I adore, is a great reminder to me that you are willing to listen to spiritual counsel from people who you know and you trust. That’s very encouraging and comforting. I don’t think anybody here expects you to be theological today. I want to put you at ease. Because I don’t think anyone’s here thinking we’re interviewing you to be our next pastor. This is not a pastoral search committee. So you’re off the hook for deep theological questions, and I think that’s probably important. Some people are very vocal about their faith, and other people are not. But it’s like the old guy said: Some people eat their soup louder than other people, but it doesn’t mean the soup tastes any different. So we understand that. We come at this with that clarity.
Let’s get to the questions. And I think the first one we’re gonna have is from Dr. Dobson.
James Dobson (founder of Focus on the Family): I am delighted to be here with the Gospel greats. It’s just a wonderful thing to see this assembly. It’s wall-to-wall and front-to-back. It’s a pleasure. I also want to tell you that I have some water here with me, and I want to tell you why. I’ve had some trouble with my voice, and I went to an ear, nose and throat doctor just a month ago. And he ran a thing down my nose, looked at my larynx, and he got a grim look on his face. I said, “What’s my problem?” And he said, “You talk too much.” I’m gonna keep this real short. We just came from another meeting, and I expressed some thoughts to Donald Trump, and I’ve been asked to repeat them. I just want to say, Sir, thank you for being here. I think everybody appreciates the fact that you took the time from all that you’ve got going on. [Applause]
In order to facilitate this session, the request for questions to be given to Mr. Trump was submitted to over a million people — I think that many, I’m not sure. Fifty thousand questions came back. And then they did an analysis of those questions to see what people wanted Mr. Trump to talk about. The number one issue was religious liberty — more than anything else. Because all the other issues relate to that one. And we’re losing it. We’re losing our religious liberty. As you know, that’s bred into our spirits and the American way of life. The Pilgrims came to this country with one motivation that drove them more than anything else: the desire to live free and be able to worship the God of their choice. That has set the tone for everything that’s come after.
And then, of course, our Founding Fathers wrote that in the Constitution, where the Bill of Rights, those 10 enumerated rights, started with religious liberty. It was put number one for a reason! Because that sets the tone. That is the foundation for all our other freedoms. And yet when Barack Obama became president, I think there was a conscious effort to undermine our religious liberty. You’ve probably seen it from that time to this. Have you noticed that the president and Democrats and Hillary — yes, Hillary — no longer talk about “freedom of religion”? They talk about “freedom of worship.” Why have they changed that? It’s very small, a one-word change. Well, freedom of worship means that you are confined to your churches and your synagogues, but freedom of religion, as identified in the Constitution, is in the public square, it’s everywhere. So they have tried to limit us to our church activity. So we’re seeing more and more of that.
Mr. Trump, we would like you to start your comments by answering that question: What will your administration do to help promote all of our freedoms — all of the Bill of Rights, and what it has meant to be an American — and protect us? Or do we have to fight another Revolutionary War to preserve them?
Trump: Thank you very much, I appreciate it. First of all, I’m not surprised to hear that that is the number one question. We talk about religious liberty, and I think it is the number one question. There are numerous things that we’re going to be doing. For one thing, we’re going to appoint great Supreme Court justices. [Applause]
And these will be Supreme Court justices that will be great intellects, that will be talented men in what they do (and women), but also be pro-life. [Applause] As you know, because of the fact that I haven’t been a politician for very long — I’ve been a politician now for a little more than 12 months — I was on the other side of it. I was a major contributor, I was part of the establishment. And all of a sudden when I ran, they said, “Wow, he’s an outsider.” I became an outsider in 24 hours. But I decided — because there’s always skepticism of someone who hasn’t been speaking to the public for 25 years and you know exactly what their views are — I decided to name 11 justices that were highly vetted by the Federalist Society and others. I’ll probably name four or five more that will be on a list, so they’ll know who we’ll be picking. But we’re doing a list, so they know who we’re going to be picking. It’ll be either them or people who are very similar.
We lost a great one in Scalia, Justice Scalia, and that was a great surprise. But this president, this next president, could have as many as five. Hard to believe. I don’t believe there’s ever been as many as five. But we could have five justices of the Supreme Court. Probably three, very possibly four, and could even be five. So if Hillary gets in, we know what she’s going to be putting in there. We know exactly what’s going to happen. We’re going to end up being a different world, a different country. We’re going to end up being a Venezuela if she gets in, for a lot of different reasons. You see what’s going on in Venezuela right now, where they’re fighting each other, killing each other over a loaf of bread. We are going to have a lot of problems in this country. So I just think it’s so important.
And, again, what I said in my opening remarks, having to do with the Johnson Amendment, whatever you want to call it, everybody knows exactly what it is. A lot of people in the church don’t like to talk about it. [The Johnson Amendment prohibited political endorsements by tax-exempt organizations.] I think it may be my greatest contribution to Christianity — and other religions — is to allow you to go and speak openly. If you like somebody and you want somebody to represent you, you should have the right to do that. [Applause]
In one of these meetings with the pastors and ministers, I pointed out to the street on Fifth Avenue, and I said, “You know, those people walking down the street individually have more power than you do because they can say whatever they want and you can’t.” And we have to get rid of that, and if we don’t, I really think you’re going to have a continuing spiral. And I don’t want to see that, because I’ve been a Christian and I love Christianity. And the evangelicals have been so incredibly supportive. Don’t forget—when I ran, and all of a sudden I went to states that are highly evangelical — like, as an example, South Carolina. … And not only did I win, I won in a landslide, and the evangelicals were on my side. And then I won the South, and I won all over. And the evangelicals were so incredible. They really get me, they understand me, and it’s an amazing group.
I always say, we’re gonna have a time very soon, when I get elected, when people are going to say “Merry Christmas” again. You don’t say it right now. You go into the big department stores, they don’t have Merry Christmas up. They have “Happy Holidays,” and now even that is coming under assault. You can’t say “Happy Holidays.” We’re becoming so politically correct that we can’t function as a country anymore. [Applause] We’re going to be saying “Merry Christmas” again, and we’re going to be saying a lot of other things. When coaches aren’t allowed to pray on the field with their team, [applause] going into battle? That’s a disgrace, and that’s gonna change. And not everybody has to pray if they don’t want to, and that’s fine. But when a coach has a team and they’re going into battle and they’re restricted from praying — and they fire the coach! — those days will be over. [Applause]
By Jon Ward.
Full story at Yahoo News.
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