Evangelist Paula White presented President Donald Trump with a Bible signed by more than 100 evangelical Christians with the inscription “History will record the greatness that you have brought for generations,” according to a White House transcript of an event described in media reports as a “state dinner” for evangelical leaders.
Attendees at Monday night’s closed-door meeting included Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear and former SBC presidents Ronnie Floyd and Jack Graham, according to Baptist Press.
Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, said on social media that he did not sign the Bible and was unaware it was being presented.
Trump supporter Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, poses with former Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann and presidential daughter Ivanka Trump in a photo posted online by CBN journalist David Brody.
Floyd, SBC president in 2015-2016, said the line “is in relationship to what has already happened in the administration in these first almost two years.”
“When you think about it, the president and the administration has been able to move matters forward on so many issues that all evangelicals are concerned about,” Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas, said in the Christian Post.
“Look at the commitment that he has had on the sanctity and dignity of human life,” added Floyd, a member of Trump’s evangelical advisory team. “He’s forwarded religious liberty with great commitment and has refused the overreach of government that was going on continually, not only here but across the world.”
In public remarks, President Trump listed accomplishments including stopping “the Johnson Amendment from interfering with your First Amendment rights.” Early in his administration the president promised to “get rid of and totally destroy” the law that prohibits tax-exempt charities such as churches from endorsing or opposing candidates for public office. While the provision in the tax code since 1954 remains on the books, the White House has issued guidance instructing the IRS not to enforce it.
Describing America as “a nation of believers,” the president said in the past the government “tried to undermine religious freedom.”
“The attacks on communities of faith are over,” Trump said. “We’ve ended it. We’ve ended it. Unlike some before us, we are protecting your religious liberty.”
Behind closed doors, according to excerpts of audio recordings reported by media outlets including NBC News and CNN, Trump described the upcoming November election “a referendum on not only me” but “a referendum on your religion” and “a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment.”
“It’s not a question of like or dislike, it’s a question that they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they will do it quickly and violently,” he said. “There is violence. When you look at Antifa — these are violent people,” Trump said, referring to a loose collection of anti-fascist groups that have been counter-protesting at a series of white supremacist and neo-Nazi rallies held over the last year opposing the removal of monuments to Confederate heroes in the Civil War.
Trump asked evangelical leaders to help get out the vote.
“You’re one election away from losing everything that you’ve gotten.”
“I just ask you to go out and make sure all of your people vote,” he said. “Because if they don’t — it’s November 6 — if they don’t vote, we’re going to have a miserable two years and we’re going to have, frankly, a very hard period of time.”
“You’re one election away from losing everything that you’ve gotten,” he added. “Little thing: Merry Christmas, right? You couldn’t say ‘Merry Christmas.’”
The full Bible inscription, according to the White House transcript, reads: “First Lady and President, you are in our prayers always. Thank you for your courageous and bold stand for religious liberty, and for your timeless service to all Americans. We appreciate the price that you have paid to walk in the high calling. History will record the greatness that you have brought for generations.”
“And if all of you agree with that, say ‘Amen,’” White said after reading the recitation. The crowd responded by saying “Amen.”