By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to bring Christian faith back into the White House if he wins the elections next week.
Trump, who has identified himself as a non-denominational Christian, pledged to revive a “Faith Office” in the White House.
During an interview with the National Faith Advisory Board in Powder Springs, Georgia, on Monday, Trump told moderator Paula White-Cain that he would reinstate the office he created during his first term.
In January 2020, Trump picked White-Cain, a Pentecostal pastor, to oversee the Faith Office during his final year in office.
“We’re going to set that up,” Trump said Monday. “It’s important, and it’ll be directly into the Oval Office.”
He added, “We have to save religion in this country. I mean, honestly, religion is under threat in this country, a serious threat, and we can’t let that happen. It’s sort of the fabric of our country. It’s the thing that holds our country together. We can’t, we can’t lose it. We’re not going to lose it.”
A similar office, the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, was first established by the Bush Administration in 2001. The Obama administration revamped it, and the Biden administration relaunched it in 2021.
FAITH OFFICE
In addition to reinstating the Faith Office, Trump recently appointed Dr. Ben Carson, his former Housing and Urban Development Secretary, as his campaign’s national faith chair.
Trump discussed his experience with faith and fatherhood at the National Faith Advisory Board summit. He recounted his upbringing in New York and said he sometimes enjoyed religious ceremonies.
Trump praised conservative Christians as a crucial part of his administration and said that a revamped office of faith would have a direct line into the Oval Office.
He also promised to repeal the Johnson Amendment, which bars 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations such as Christian ministries from supporting or opposing political candidates.
Critics claim Trump uses Christianity to win votes. Trump alluded to that Monday, saying: “I shouldn’t scold anyone, but Christians aren’t known for being very solid voters. We have to save religion in this country. No, honestly, religion is under threat.”
Yet Trump has also said that he isn’t the savior of America. At several rallies, he spoke about Jesus Christ as “the Boss” and the one more famous than him who has a role in him surviving an assassination attempt.
However, perhaps nowhere has he publicly spoken about the faith he says he has, as in 2021 when he stressed that “Our country needs a Savior right now. And our country has a Savior—and it’s not me. That’s somebody else much higher up than me. Much higher.”
CHRIST’S INFLUENCE
Trump spoke about critical historical moments in the Church and Jesus’ example: “The life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ forever changed the world,” he declared.
“And it’s impossible to think of the life of our own country without the influence of His example and His teachings,” he said in comments read and heard by Worthy News.
“Our miraculous founding, overcoming civil war, abolishing slavery, defeating communism and fascism, reaching boundless heights of science and discovery, so many incredible things. None of this could have ever happened without Jesus Christ and his followers and his Church,” he noticed.
“None of it.”
He urged the church crowd “to remember that Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of our strength and our hope and here and everywhere and for all time.”
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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