By Jack Jenkins
Reporter
Religion News Service
There has been no shortage of “God-talk” during Donald Trump’s first term in office, with the president regularly consulting — and praying — with a tight group of evangelical advisers. The 45th president of the U.S. once even declared himself “the chosen one.”
As Trump prepares to kick off the first day of the 2020 Republican National Convention and his bid for four more years, Religion News Service takes a look back at some of the most impactful religion moments of his administration thus far.
Arguably the biggest religion story of Trump’s presidency is how he got there in the first place: by winning 80-81% of white evangelicals who turned out on Election Day 2016. His ability to curry favor with white evangelicals baffled pundits and political analysts, many of whom expressed confusion that so-called “values voters” would back a candidate who stumbled over Bible verses, frequently used crude language and was caught bragging about sexual assault. This despite vehement opposition from some evangelical leaders such as Russell Moore, the head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Yet Trump’s appeal with the group would become a mainstay of his first term in office, with the president sometimes openly acknowledging that some of his policy positions were designed to please evangelical Christians.