Leading Republicans are insisting that U.S. President Barack Obama must do more to secure Christian values at home and abroad, blaming him for people’s insolence towards Christianity in the name of religious freedom.
“Those of us inspired by Judeo-Christian values...have an obligation to our country and to our fellow man to use our positions of influence to highlight those values,” said Florida's Republican Senator Marco Rubio at the conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition on June 19th.
Rubio is among the several potential Republican presidential candidates for 2016 and he said that Obama’s policies completely negate the importance of families and values in society as he continues to replace them with laws and government programs.
More than 1,000 evangelical leaders attended the conference that was organized to mobilize religious conservative voters prior to the forthcoming mid-term elections as well as the 2016 presidential contest. While study after study reveals social conservatives are losing the battle against gay marriage, Republican leaders continue to say that evangelical Christians play a crucial role in Republican politics.
“You can ignore them, but you do so at our own peril,” said Republican operative Hogan Gidley, who has earlier worked for presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee.
During the 2012 general election, exit polls suggested that born-again Christians and white evangelicals constituted only 26 percent of the electorate and the group is likely to have a lower turnout in the Republican primary elections. The recent conference aimed at discussing the challenges Republicans face while trying to bridge internal rifts and improve the party’s image.
“The Republican Party has given up on even trying to change. They're not even pretending anymore… They've given up on any attempt to rebrand or reach out to new voters — and in many cases they've moved in the opposite direction. It's clear that the GOP has redefined the far right,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Republican Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
While issues like abortion and gay marriage were barely discussed at the conference, Rubio along with Texas Senator Ted Cruz made sure to point out what they called failures in the Obama administration that they believe have led to attacks on Christians abroad, particularly those present in Iraq.
“Christians are being persecuted in stunning numbers. They are being stoned. They are being tortured… We need leadership in America,” said Cruz, while calling for Obama to stand up for Christians in prisons in Iran and Sudan.
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
