Intersection of faith and politics a central message at Republican convention

The intersection of faith and politics has been a central message heard this week at the Republican National Convention. It’s also something Judy Woodruff has been following closely as part of her America at a Crossroads series. She joined Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett to discuss more.

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Geoff Bennett: The intersection of faith and politics has been a central message we have heard this week here in Milwaukee.

Amna Nawaz: It’s also something our own Judy Woodruff has been following closely as part of her America at a Crossroads series.

Judy’s with us now for a closer look. Thanks for being here.

Judy Woodruff: Absolutely. Very good to be here.

Geoff Bennett: It’s great to have you.

So, as Amna mentioned, you recently filed two reports about the role of politics and the political divide in the white evangelical church. I wonder, what’s your reaction to the incorporation of faith in the proceedings this week and this notion expressed by lots of people here at this convention that Donald Trump surviving that assassination attempt really confirms that he is in some way God’s chosen to bring salvation to the U.S., to the world, really elevating him as this messianic figure?

Judy Woodruff: You’re right, Geoff.

There’s no question there’s been an effort on the part of some of the speakers and certainly on the part of some of the delegates, as you talk to them, the sense that they want to or that they feel that faith and their faith, their Christian faith, has been invoked by this incident.

I think Senator Tim Scott the other night mentioned Satan came down and was going to take Donald Trump’s life, in effect, but God intervened, and, therefore, here’s a message that we all need to hear.

So you’re hearing strands of that throughout this — these delegates. I will say this is not a universally accepted idea. I have just — just a few minutes ago, I was on the floor talking to delegates in general about a number of different things and asked them about the role of religion in politics.

And some of them say they’re not comfortable with it. So I wouldn’t say it’s universal among every single Republican. These, as you know, are — these are the most active Republicans in the country. They’re here at the convention, but it clearly is a significant strain in the Republican Party.

Amna Nawaz: Well, tell us a little bit more. We know you were spending time talking to many of those delegates today. What kind of views did they articulate about the role that faith has played and the way it’s made it into those speeches and how much it matters to them?

Judy Woodruff: Well, for many of them, Amna, it is front and center.

Many people here are wearing a cross. They very comfortably bring up their faith. They bring up God or whatever faith they belong to in conversation. I also — I have to say, I mean, I have just finished within the last half-hour speaking with some delegates, and I said, do you think that religion should play a bigger role in the public square?

And a couple of them, several of them said no. They think that what we need is more room for people of different faiths to express their views, that there shouldn’t be a particular faith imposed. So, they — some of them seem, to me, to have given this a lot of thought.

I will say, though, we need to overlay all this that right now 80 percent of self-identified evangelicals in America say they identify as Republicans, so — or voted, I should say, have voted with Donald Trump in the last election. So this is a party that is overlaying the evangelical church in America.

Geoff Bennett: On the issues, how does the religious right, the party faithful who are here, how do they feel about the issue of abortion, specifically Donald Trump saying that this should now be left to the states?

Judy Woodruff: I think there’s a shift. This was a — this is a party, Geoff, that for every four years in the platform, the language has been there, we need to have strict rules against abortion. They wanted Roe v. Wade repealed.

This year, as you know, the language has been very much downplayed. Donald Trump’s position is, it’s in line with what the Dobbs decision, the court’s — the Supreme Court ruling, the Dobbs decision, leave it up to the states.

And in talking to delegates last weekend — we talked to a group of six delegates from across the country — all but one of them said that they were perfectly comfortable with abortion being left to the states. That’s a significant shift. And some of them, I know, are individuals — in fact, they said to us, in their own view, in the past, they felt that there should be more government regulations about abortion.

It’s another, I think, reminder of just how much Donald Trump and his personal views have injected themselves into the belief system of Republicans who have shown up at this convention.

Amna Nawaz: Our very own Judy Woodruff joining us here.

Judy, thank you so much for joining us. Always great to see you.

Judy Woodruff: Thank you. Thank you both.