Free Republic

Bob Vander Plaats, an influential evangelical leader in Iowa, endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, giving his campaign a boost as he goes all in to try to win the first state in the presidential primary cycle. "You need a president who's gonna surround themselves with the best and brightest people versus having a hard time attracting them again. And someone who's actually going to do what they say they're going to do. And I just think he's got the spine to do it. And I think he's got the experience to win for us," Vander Plaats said on...

Influential evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats' organization, "The FAMiLY Leader," will be hosting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for a Thanksgiving Family forum. Vander Plaats, a faith leader who has endorsed the eventual winner in every contested GOP caucus since 2008, has not yet said who he'll support – but his coveted endorsement could soon go to DeSantis. On a Monday call with fundraisers, DeSantis told donors he is expecting an endorsement from Vander Plaats' within a week of the roundtable, according to multiple attendees who were...

Bob Vander Plaats, an influential evangelical leader in Iowa, is widely expected to endorse Ron DeSantis in the presidential primary. But now, with Donald Trump dominating the field, he is poised to back a candidate who is running 30 points behind the frontrunner here — testing not only the clout of his own endorsement, but the willingness of evangelicals to abandon Trump. Earlier this week, CBS reported that DeSantis told fundraisers he expects Vander Plaats’ endorsement within a week of the summit, which the DeSantis campaign denied.

The percentage of Democrat and Democrat-leaning voters who identify as Christian has sharply declined since 2008, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.A report by Pew published in its U.S. Politics & Policy section found that while 73% of Democrat voters were Christian in 2008, by 2019 the percentage had dropped to 52%.The large decline came for the subset of white Christians, who went from 45% of Democrat voters to 26%; nonwhite Christians had a smaller decline of 28% to 25% during the same time period. Republican and Republican-leaning voters also saw a drop in self-identified Christians...

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez suggested it is hypocritical for President Trump’s supporters to attend his rallies and go to church. "I think the challenge that I see among a lot of people that go to Donald Trump rallies, and then they will go to church on Sunday, and I'm not, I don't know what faith they are worshiping," Perez told Axios.

We often hear that evangelical support for President Trump is hurting our witness here in America. Is it hurting our witness overseas as well? In a follow-up to Christianity Today’s editorial by Mark Galli calling for the removal of President Trump, CT president Timothy Dalrymple noted, “We are also a global ministry” and “partly on behalf of that global body, we can no longer stay silent.” Is it true, then, that American evangelical support for Trump is hurting our international witness? Dalrymple wrote...

Christianity Today officially jumped the shark when they called for the impeachment of President Trump.  Why were they not advocating for the same thing during the Obama years? When I voted for Donald Trump, my vote was not for a Sunday School Teacher but rather for the person who would keep my wife, family, and nation safe.  We had a Sunday School teacher named Jimmy Carter as President and yet were much better off as a nation under Ronald Reagan, a divorced man (albeit an evangelical Christian himself).  Would I like a Sunday School teacher?  Absolutely but as president, I...

You just knew that Morning Joe would seek to exploit for maximum political gain the Christianity Today editorial by outgoing editor-in-chief Mark Galli that was highly critical of President Trump. And sure enough . . . First up today was Never-Trumper Rick Tyler, who praised the editorial for having "overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple courts." In a particularly audacious attack, Tyler claimed that Trump-supporting evangelicals are telling others that "Christianity is sort of a farce. That it's not real. That it's not true." Next up was Al Sharpton, who approvingly cast the editorial, because it's...

In our founding documents, Billy Graham explains that Christianity Today will help evangelical Christians interpret the news in a manner that reflects their faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our republic. It requires comment. . . . Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has...

Watch them, Friends! Listen. Watch your Democrat lawmakers speak again and again of the moments that mean the most to them: taking their oaths. Holding with reverence their prized Bibles. Daddy's Bible. Grandpa's Bible. The symbols of a deep Catholic faith, for instance: Nancy Pelosi's faith. Watch them speak of the love they have for their LORD, of their religions and precious communities. Their love of Truth, Justice. Listen to them speak of America's foundation: the Lord. The Bible. Faith, righteousnessness, and honesty. This is a solemn time, they say. A prayerful time. Watch these pious men and women bow...

I understand the tremendous popularity of Donald Trump in America in 2015. He is a larger than life reality TV star; he is incredibly rich and not beholden to anyone; he is fearless and speaks his mind; he articulates the frustrations and anger of millions of his countrymen; he gives the impression that he can fix our economy and will put an end to illegal immigration; he is not a Washington insider; he could be a strong leader who could face down our global enemies; he can even be winsome and self-effacing at times. Yes, I do understand all this...

A memo from a top adviser to Jeb Bush gives a clue as to how he could connect with the conservative base of his party if he runs for president: talking about his religious faith. Faith is listed as one of nine “issues you care about” in a memo to Mr. Bush’s supporters from Sally Bradshaw that quotes Mr. Bush on each topic, offering an on-message preview of his potential bid for the Republican nomination. Referring to his conversion to Catholicism, Mr. Bush says, “My faith was strengthened when I converted to my wife’s faith…It gives me a serenity that,...

There seems to be a kumbaya moment occurring on the conservative front, and it’s one that would apply a salve to Senator John McCain’s uneven, unsettled relationship with the religious right. Enter James Dobson, who has at times been blistering in his criticisms of Mr. McCain. The religious right’s more favored candidates — from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to even former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson — are no longer options. Thus, The Associated Press is reporting, in a preview of Mr. Dobson’s radio show tomorrow, that he is amending his views to be more embracing of the presumptive Republican...

After months of speeches and debates, and nearly $1 billion in total campaign spending to date, the presidential race is a dead heat. A head-to-head showdown between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama is now too close to call — 45.9 percent to 44.6 percent — based on an averaging of national polls by realclearpolitics.com. A head-to-head showdown between McCain and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is also razor-thin, 46 percent to 45.7 percent. Now, a poll of likely Christian voters offers evidence of why the McCain campaign is struggling to gain real traction and a lead that can last. The...

In a passionate pitch simulcast to millions of Christian conservatives across the nation, Gov. Mitt Romney blasted gay marriage in Massachusettsas a danger to kids and urged the passage of a national ban on same-sex marriage. “The price of same-sex marriage is paid by the children,” said Romney during a brief but peppy speech from Boston during a forum hosted by the Family Research Council. “The child’s development is enhanced by the nurturing of parents of both genders. Every child deserves a mother and a father.”

Hi, I just signed up for the VOTE or NOT Challenge. The challenge is to raise awareness and get as many of our friends and family to participate in the Election. The 2000 Election was decided by about 500 votes, so all our votes matter!! This year's election may be just as close. If you sign up for the challenge, you also get entered into a sweepstakes to win $100,000, and if you refer the winner to the challenge (like I'm doing right now), you get $100,000 too. In other words, if you join and win, we BOTH get $100,000....

Four million evangelicals didn’t vote in the 2000 presidential election. Great ... way to go Church! Onward Christian soldiers [or should it be backward?]. It’s a scary thought: we almost had Al Gore playing Frankenstein around the White House because a few million folks who should have known better refused to get up from the couch on which they were playing potato, go to the polls and vote. Why the vacuum at the voting booth in 2000, people of God? Were you stunned into placidity the Sunday before the last election because of a tedious three point sermon, delivered by...