Top 8 Religious Quotes from the GOP Debates

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Sep 17, 2015

Top 8 Religious Quotes from the GOP Debates

1. Bobby Jindal on Christian discrimination: "In America… right now, the biggest discrimination going on is against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. 

"Let's talk about the Christian bakers, florist, caterer and musician who simply want to say, 'Don't arrest us or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between man and a woman.’ Let's talk about not discriminating against Christians."

2. Lindsey Graham on same-sex marriage: "In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause.

"I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights."

3. Rick Santorum on Kentucky clerk Kim Davis: "16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero.

"Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith.

"That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience.

"And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, 'I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings'? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room."

4. George Pataki on Kentucky clerk Kim Davis: "This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit… But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law."

5. Mike Huckabee on Kentucky clerk Kim Davis: "We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo -- I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans."

"...You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo?"

6. Jeb Bush on Kentucky clerk Kim Davis: "I think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is… a first freedom. It's... a powerful part of our… Bill of Rights."

"...But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level..."

7. Carly Fiorina on Israel and Planned Parenthood: "On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel..."

"...As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.

"This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us."

8. Ben Carson on radical Islam: "And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism… We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us.

"They are an existential threat to our nation… We have to recognize we have two choices.

"We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... them first."

Publication date: September 17, 2015



Top 8 Religious Quotes from the GOP Debates