Ron DeSantis tells Christians to 'put on the full Armor of God;' vows to protect families, children
Shortly before announcing his presidential campaign Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outlined his views on faith, family and the education of the country’s children at the National Religious Broadcasters Association’s annual media convention.
On Monday, DeSantis spoke at NRB’s opening session for the event, held at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Florida. NRB is a nonpartisan association that equips Christian communicators to share the Gospel and provides them with training and networking opportunities.
According to a statement published by NRB Tuesday, the Republican governor urged those in attendance to “Get ready, put on the full Armor of God, stand firm in the truth, and never ever back down.”
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DeSantis spoke on the issue of family during the opening session, drawing attention to his state’s efforts to emphasize the importance of fatherhood and assist children growing up without a dad,Fox News reported.
Last April, the Florida governor signed HB 7065, a bill designed to encourage responsible fatherhood by providing grants to community nonprofits to offer mentorship programs, among other provisions.
“We’re working with groups that are addressing the needs of the father and trying to get them engaged with their kids,” DeSantis said, adding that the state is also providing mentorship programs for children whose fathers are in prison.
“If you have somebody in the community that takes an interest, that child can be so much better in the future,” he continued.
Regarding education, DeSantis said children need to “understand the foundations of our country” and “need to understand our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and understand what it means to be an American.”
In April of 2022, DeSantis signed HB 7, a bill that bars educators from teaching critical race theory and the ideas that “members of one race, color, national origin, or sex are morally superior to members of another race, color, national origin, or sex” or that “a person, by virtue of his or her race, color, national origin, or sex is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
DeSantis provided further details about the types of policies he supports when announcing his intention to seek the Republican nomination for president.
As The Christian Post previously reported, the Florida governor revealed his vision for the country in a Twitter space hosted by Twitter CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks Wednesday. In response to a question about whether he was “trying to ban books,” blocking efforts to “teach kids about slavery” and telling schools to “say that gay people don’t exist,” DeSantis clarified how his policies are intended to benefit parents.
“What we have done is empowered parents with the ability to review the curriculum, to know what books are being used in school and then to ensure that those books match state standards and are age and developmentally appropriate,” he asserted.
The 2024 presidential hopeful cited examples of books that “teach middle school kids how to use sex apps, that provide graphic depictions of sex acts and sex toys for people as young as fifth grade.”
According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls analyzing Republican primary voters’ preferences among the 2024 Republican presidential nominees taken from April 28 through May 22, DeSantis has 21.3% support while former President Donald Trump remains the frontrunner with 53.9% support.
On Wednesday, MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki shared a chart on social media showing how DeSantis won re-election as Florida’s governor by 19.4 points two years after Trump carried Florida by a 3.3% margin during the 2020 presidential election. The data presented by Kornacki showed that DeSantis outperformed Trump in every county in the state.
In his 2020 re-election bid, Trump carried Florida by 3.3 points. In his 2022 re-election bid, DeSantis carried it by 19.4%. Here's how much DeSantis outperformed Trump by in each of FL's counties, ranked from most to least: pic.twitter.com/aKI9eLXh8e
— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) May 24, 2023
A separate RealClearPolitics average of polls taken between April 11 and May 22 measuring voter preferences in a hypothetical general election matchup between DeSantis and President Joe Biden shows the former securing 44.1% support and the latter receiving 43.5%. The RealClearPolitics average of polls from the same time period analyzing a potential matchup between Trump and Biden shows Trump at 45.4% and Biden at 44.0%.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
