Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 1, 2024 / 19:00 pm
With just days left before Nov. 5, the president of the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, is urging people of faith to vote.
In an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” host Tracy Sabol on Friday, Kevin Roberts addressed the anticipated crisis of nonvoters among people of faith in America. The discussion came in light of a recent study by Arizona Christian University, which found that only 51% of people of faith planned to vote in the presidential election.
Nearly 70% of participants in the survey said they no longer held “interest” in politics or elections, while nearly 60% said they disliked all major candidates. In addition, roughly half of the participants said neither candidate represented their views and that they believed their vote would not make a difference either way. Nearly 50% also said they believed the election results would be manipulated.
“I’m not surprised by the results, although I want to say a year ago, I would have been,” Roberts told Sabol, explaining that it is common among people of faith not to vote, despite having “a moral obligation to do so.”
Addressing the trend among Catholic and other Christian voters who abstain from voting out of dislike for both candidates, the former president of Wyoming Catholic College emphasized the importance of “study[ing] the issues.”
“As people of faith, we have to weigh that policy record and put it into the future and understand that if [Vice President Kamala Harris] were to win, that we are going to see threats to religious liberty,” he said. “We’re going to see threats to our ability to worship. We will continue to pray for her as the president of the United States, obviously.”
“But we really do need to consider that in the next days,” Roberts added, “particularly if there are Catholics and other Christians who are thinking they might just stay home.”
The filibuster, religious liberty, and free speech
Roberts also addressed the issue during a roundtable discussion on Friday morning, highlighting numerous policy issues that directly concern people of faith — including religious liberty, the pro-life movement, and free speech.
“I don’t believe it is hyperbole to make the claim that Vice President Harris is the most anti-faith, anti-religion presidential candidate in our history,” the conservative policy leader stated, adding: “What’s at stake is that we’re going to lose our ability to worship. We’re going to lose our religious liberty if the Harris-Walz campaign prevails.”
When asked what would happen should Harris win the election and successfully eliminate the filibuster in order to codify Roe v. Wade, Roberts warned that this move would bring about “a real abridgement of religious liberty” and free speech in addition to expanding abortion.
Roberts referenced notable incidents of religious intolerance in the past several weeks alone, including Harris’ refusal to support religious exemptions with respect to abortion as well as an incident in which she told two Christians that they were “at the wrong rally” after they shouted that Jesus was Lord. A video shows that other protesters also yelled “Lies!” and “Liar!” at Harris before she responded.
“Obviously,” he said, “this is a real problem even for people of no faith. Because if you eliminate our first freedom, which is to believe and worship as we shall, then all of the others are endangered.”
Should the Democrats regain their slim majority in the Senate, he said, “there’s a 100% chance they will attempt to eliminate the filibuster” and have a reasonable chance at success.
“I really do believe, because there’s evidence of this over the last four or six weeks of rhetoric,” Roberts said, “that they’re going to abridge free speech. They’re going to abridge free speech for people of faith. They’re going to abridge free speech for organizations and media outlets.”
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If Democrats do not manage to secure a majority but Harris is elected, Roberts said, the current vice president would likely enact policies against religious freedom through executive orders expanding abortion access and targeting people of faith.
“I think she’s going to be zeroed in on religious liberty,” he said.
Working with Trump policies
Despite concerns over former president Donald Trump’s stance on life issues such as abortion and IVF, Roberts stated that he is “cautiously optimistic” that a Trump-Vance administration would “still be solidly pro-life.”
“I think people of faith need to remember the former president’s track record on this,” he said, “and need to remember that if President Trump and Sen. Vance are elected next Tuesday, that there is a far greater chance, a far greater chance of being able to work with them and the people they appoint on issues that matter to us, including abortion, including religious liberty.”
“I think in contrast,” he said, “there’s a zero percent chance we get that opportunity in our Harris-Walz administration, I think, on abortion, [and] on religious freedom. People of faith need to be mindful of that.”
