Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts warned Americans in a Friday press call that Vice President Kamala is the most “anti-faith” presidential candidate in history and that her administration would lead to Christians losing their freedom to worship.
Roberts, who has led the conservative think-tank since 2021, hosted a virtual faith media roundtable to discuss why Christians should vote. In his remarks Friday, he warned about the implications of a Harris administration and assuaged Christians concerns about the Republican candidate for president, former President Donald Trump.
The conversation, held four days before the presidential election, where the Republican ticket of Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, is locked in a tight race with the Democratic ticket of Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
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Roberts described Harris as “the most anti-faith, anti-religion presidential candidate in history.” He maintained that “People of faith who are worried about the choice they are making really need to understand what’s at stake.”
“We’re going to lose our ability to worship, we’re going to lose our religious liberty if the Harris-Walz campaign prevails,” he asserted. He cited the vice president’s suggestion to attendees at one of her rallies who shouted phrases including “Christ is King” that they were at the wrong rally as an example of her hostility to religion.
Roberts expressed concern about the prospect of a Harris-Walz administration “expanding abortion” if Democrats gain control of Congress and the presidency as well as “a real abridgement of religious liberty” and efforts to “abridge free speech.” He expressed concern that “they’re going to abridge free speech for people of faith” as well as media organizations.
“Although I’ve got other things I’m concerned about, I think it’s not hyperbole for me to say that I think the entire First Amendment is endangered” in the event of a Harris-Walz victory in the 2024 election, Roberts declared. In addition to laying out the implications of a Harris-Walz administration for people of faith, he attempted to reassure those with concerns that a Trump-Vance administration would not be much better.
“There are people of faith who are sitting on the sidelines because they have forgotten that we are electing a president, not a pastor,” he lamented. Roberts further contended that Christians who plan on sitting out the 2024 election because of their concerns about Trump need to remember that “none of us is perfect,” including Trump and Vance.
Roberts’ comments about people of faith “sitting on the sidelines” in the 2024 election comes as a study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University published last month estimated that 32 million self-identified Christians will abstain from voting.
Addressing the concern that Trump has taken an inadequately pro-life position by insisting that the issue of abortion should be left to the states following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that ruled the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion and his vow not to sign a national abortion ban, Roberts added, “I think people of faith need to remember the […] former president’s track record” on the issue from his previous time in the White House.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that in a Trump-Vance administration the policy default of the president and vice president will still be solidly pro-life,” he said. Reflecting on the assembly of a presidential cabinet and administration that would follow a Trump-Vance victory, Roberts declared, “It’s sort of impossible to avoid appointing pro-life people.”
Roberts described the pro-life movement as “a vital, vital part of the political coalition that will have succeeded in electing Trump and Vance,” stressing that giving pro-life activists prominent roles in the administration would be “politically intelligent.”
Polling at the national level as well as in individual swing states as of Friday forecasts a close election. The RealClearPolitics average of national polls asking voters which candidate they support shows Trump with a very narrow lead of 0.3 percentage points over Harris. The RealClearPolitics “no toss-up” map, which projects the outcome of the presidential election in the electoral college based on polling averages in individual states, shows Trump capturing 287 electoral votes to Harris’ 251.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
