Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump offered a welcoming embrace to Christians at a faith leader gathering in North Carolina on Monday night, contrasting his view with his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s invitation to believers contrasted Harris, who had students removed from her weekend rally who shouted “Christ is king!” and said they were at the “wrong rally.”
“In our movement, we love Christians, we welcome believers, and we embrace followers of Jesus,” Trump said in Concord.
“At Trump rallies, we don’t tell Christians to get lost. We tell Christians to GET OUT and VOTE!” he added.
In a strong response against social concerns of importance to evangelicals, Trump pledged to stop schools from promoting CRT (critical race theory), transgender athletes in girls’ sports and radical gender ideology.
“On day one I will sign an executive order banning schools from promoting critical race theory or transgender insanity. I will take historic action to defeat the toxic poison of gender ideology and reaffirm that God created two genders, male and female,” Trump said to roaring applause.
“I will keep men out of women’s sports. I will sign a law banning child sexual mutilation in all 50 states, won’t happen anymore. And we will proudly say, ‘Merry Christmas’ again,” he added.
Rev. Franklin Graham, CEO of Samaritans Purse and leader of the Billy Graham Evangelist Association, prayed at the event.
“Rallies and positive poll numbers are not gonna win this election. It’s gonna be GOD,” he told the audience before his prayer.
Graham also later released a statement urging Americans to pray for the election.
“I was asked to speak in Concord, North Carolina, tonight and lead in prayer at an event with President Donald J. Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, and other faith leaders. I told the crowd that rallies and positive polls won’t win this election—only God can do that,” Graham wrote.
“God is the only hope for Donald Trump and He is the only hope for our nation. Would you take a moment tonight and do what we did inside the convention center—PRAY! Join me in praying for President Trump, for this nation, and for this election?” he asked.