Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he aligns some core principles of his Hindu religion with the “Judeo-Christian values” shared by many Iowa voters, but acknowledged he would not be “the best president to spread Christianity.”
When asked by an audience member his response to those who believe he “cannot be our president” because his religion “is not what our founding fathers based our country on,” Ramaswamy said he “respectfully disagrees.”
He laid out why he believes his upbringing in Hinduism aligns with the core tenants of Christianity, while also highlighting his connection to Christianity through his education at St. Xavier — a Catholic high school in Cincinnati.
“I’ll tell you about my faith. My faith teaches me that God puts each of us here for a purpose. That we have a moral duty to realize that purpose. That God works through us in different ways, but we’re still equal, because God resides in each of us,” he said. “I think those are the same Judeo-Christian values that I learned at St. X.”
Ramaswamy conceded that as a practicing Hindu, he would not be “the best president to spread Christianity throughout the country,” but said his own relationship to faith and his commitment to upholding the First Amendment protection for freedom of religion would be a focus of his presidency.
“Would I be the best president to spread Christianity through this country? I would not. I’d be not the best choice for that. But I also don’t think that that’s the job of the US president. But will I stand for the Judeo-Christian values that this nation was founded on that I was raised in, even in the Hindu faith? Yes, I will. You’re darn right, I will,” Ramaswamy said.
“I think it’s my responsibility to make faith and patriotism and family and hard work, cool again in this country, I think they’re pretty cool and I think that’s my job as your next president,” he added.
Ramaswamy has sought to ease potential concerns of voters who have doubts about his religious background, making particular effort to share details of his faith at recent campaign events in Iowa, where a significant constituency of Republican voters are Evangelical Christians. He often evokes anecdotes from the Bible, as he did at the town hall Wednesday.
“We don’t choose who God works through. God chooses who God works through. So we get to the Old Testament, a little bit further along, we get to the Book of Isaiah. I don’t know if many of you are familiar with that one. God chose Cyrus, a gentile all the way in Persia, to lead the Jewish people back to the promised land,” Ramaswamy said.
“And so yes, I believe God put us here for a purpose. My faith is what leads me on this journey to run for president,” he said.
Source: www.cnn.com