During his recent tours throughout Iowa, The Iowa Republican reports that Bobby Jindal has been focusing on reaching out to evangelical and religious voters. The main focus for Jindal’s recent appearances has been religious liberty. Jindal told The Iowa Republican:
This is an increasingly important issue in our country today. When you hear Secretary Clinton or President Obama speak about religious liberty, for them it’s about religious expression. That’s not the same thing. It’s not about an hour in Church, it’s really about ability to live your life, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to your sincerely held religious beliefs as long as you’re not hurting anybody.
Jindal also pointed out that the fight for religious liberty is what created the United States:
On the spiritual side, I think there is a sense that we are witnessing a worsening of our culture – a growing secularization of our culture – and that these religious liberty issues are extremely important. One of the points I made is that religious liberty created the United States, the United States didn’t create religious liberty. It’s why we are here as a country. Without religious liberty there is no freedom of speech and no freedom of association. I also reminded and encouraged them that, as Christians, we are called to be optimists. We worship a God that has risen, who is not in the tomb. And I don’t think it’s befitting for us to be sitting around saying, “Oh woe is us.” I’m an optimist in our country. I think our best days are ahead of us. I’m not pollyannish. I think every generation has made the decision to leave more opportunity to our kids that we inherited from our parents, and this is our opportunity.
But Jindal hasn’t yet translated that new focus into a solution that will protect religious liberty, however. Christians and other traditional believers need more than God talk, as Russell Moore (and Maggie) reminded us. Or religious liberty talk. Here’s hoping one of our smartest candidates comes up with a concrete plan to protect our rights.
Joshua Pinho works for American Principles in Action.
