500 Evangelical Leaders to Meet Trump to Test His Faith, Values
As many as 500 top evangelical and social conservative leaders, including Dr. Ben Carson and Tony Perkins, will have a closed-door meeting with Donald Trump on June 21 in New York City to ascertain what he has to offer to the country.
"Our goal is to be able to have a conversation that could lead to a better understanding of what Donald Trump has to offer to the country," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, according to Fox News, which says Trump has agreed to meet with the evangelical and social conservative leaders.
Perkins, along with Bill Dallas of United in Purpose, worked with former Republican candidate Carson, who has endorsed Trump, to arrange the meeting.
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"I want to be actively supportive of a candidate who can help turn this nation around. With Trump – I'm not there yet. I hope to be there – but I'm not there right now," Perkins told Fox News' Todd Starnes.
Those leading the efforts include Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Faith and Freedom Coalition's Ralph Reed, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, Bob McEwen, Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association, Kelly Shackleford of First Liberty, American Values President Gary Bauer, Family Leader President Bob Vander Plaats, and megachurch pastors Jack Graham and Ed Young.
"There is no preconceived outcome here," Perkins added. "I'm hoping we can have a conversation that could lead to helping conservative leaders make a decision about what to do in this election."
SBC's Floyd said the meeting will help Christians share their hearts with Trump. "None of us have endorsed Mr. Trump, nor have we condemned Mr. Trump," he was quoted as saying. "This is about the possibility of being able to appoint the next four Supreme Court justices. This is about the dignity of human life from the womb to the tomb. This is about religious freedom. I'm not about to sit at home and not express something. I'm accountable to God and I believe I'm accountable to my fellow Americans."
On Friday, Trump also sent a two-minute video message to the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in California.
"We're going to take care of minority unemployment. It's a huge problem. It's really unfair to minorities and we are going to solve that problem and it's going to be solved once and for all," Trump said in the video. "We're going to bring back jobs. You're going to start paying taxes after you make a lot of money. Hopefully that's going to be soon. We're going to make great, great trade deals. So important."
He continued, "We're going to stop drugs from pouring into our country. We're going to strengthen our country. People are going to come into our country, but they're going to come in through a process. They'll come in legally but we're going to stop the drugs and we are going to curb our debt."
Trump added, "We're going to take care of you. We're going to work with you. You're going to be very happy. You're going to like President Trump."
