Christians of different denominations but similar political backgrounds expressed strong support for the Republican Party at the annual Road to Majority Conference in Washington, D.C.
The event featured a myriad of talks from prominent Republican officials, including President Donald Trump, and was hosted by the Faith & Freedom Coalition, which seeks to “empower conservative political activists in the polls and in the public arena.”
Attendee Otis Harris said he doesn’t associate himself with a particular Christian denomination.
“There’s no separation in Christ,” he said.
When asked about the Republican Party and the event’s speakers, Harris said he doesn’t consider himself very politically active or informed, though he liked the message of Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, who he said urged a repentant lifestyle and heart.
In his speech, the Pentecostal Rodriguez expressed support for Republican issues, arguing that they better represented Christian values in a spiritual battle against evil.
John Pudner, who serves as president of the Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition, said few evangelicals and fundamentalists voted in elections during the 1970s.
“It was this feeling that politics is such a bad, messy thing,” he said. “We’re Christians, why would we dirty our hands?”
Pudner said evangelicals were initially wary about Trump and his relationship to the Christian faith.
“He seemed like he’s not really one of us,” he said.
However, Pudner said he increasingly heard Christians claim they needed someone with Trump’s temperament in politics. He believes fellow Christians felt they had been kicked around for too long, which helped increase support for Trump.
“I kept hearing that, well, ‘We just need a street fighter,’” he said. “We’re not trying to elect him as our pastor, we’re not trying to marry him, we’re not trying to make him a poet. There’s only a couple of Christians, sometimes you need someone who’s maybe not quite as nice a Christian to win a battle.”
Pudner said he thinks it is unlikely that Trump is a practicing Christian, but he admires how Trump fights for the same political issues he supports, citing actions against illegal border crossings and transgender child surgeries as shared moral concerns.
James Gallagher, a retired Navy veteran who identifies as Roman Catholic, said he believes the Republican Party holds many of the same ideals and principles as Christianity.
“Christianity fits better with the Republican Party,” he said.
Gallagher said he thinks the Republican Party has recently shifted toward better representing working-class people.
“I think the Democratic Party used to be the party of working men and women, but now that’s shifted, and now it’s the Republican Party,” he said.
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Gallagher said he thinks faith-driven people have become more politically active within his lifetime.
“I think the future is bright,” he said. “Christianity is on the rise, and we’re becoming more interested in our government, and I think that’s going to only help all Americans, no matter what their faith.”
The Road to Majority Conference will conclude on Saturday.
