Convicted felon Donald Trump said at his inauguration that he had been "saved by God." Now he appears to be returning the favor with an increasingly conservative, religious focus in his second term. Three times married Trump signed an executive order to open a "Faith Office" at the White House, led by the televangelist Paula White, Trump's so-called spiritual advisor. A day earlier Trump had unveiled a task force under new Attorney General Pam Bondi to root out what he called the "persecution" of Christians in the United States.
Unlike his predecessor Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, Trump rarely appears in church. He was confirmed into the Presbyterian church but said he was "non-denominational". Then there are the sexual scandals -- and a criminal conviction for a porn star hush money case -- and the selling of US$60 Trump-branded Bibles on the campaign trail. Yet evangelical Christians backed him in the 2024 election.
The Republican has also appointed several cabinet members with links to Christian nationalists, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. A number of other Trump associates have ties to the New Apostolic Reformation church -- a Christian nationalist movement that calls for the levers of government and society to come under Christian control. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has been linked to the movement, as has Paula White, who will head up his new Faith Office.
Hegseth, meanwhile, belongs to a church affiliated to the right-wing Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), a Christian nationalist group. The movement wants to reestablish Biblical law, with some of its adherents calling for the repeal of women's right to vote, US media reported.
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