Jeb Bush invoked Terri Schiavo. Rand Paul called for cutting foreign aid to countries that “persecute Christians.” And Ted Cruz warned that a Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage would amount to “naked and lawless judicial activism.”

Washington’s annual social conservative cattle call, a three-day event hosted by the Faith & Freedom Coalition, has so far amounted to a message test for a dozen Republicans running for president, each tailoring rhetoric they hope resonates among the religious right.


Some quoted scripture and others hewed closely to their stump speeches. But the ones who found particular favor with their audience — a potent force in GOP primary politics — described a conservative Christian community under siege by government, Democrats and an increasingly godless society.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned of an “assault on religious liberty” in America. Paul called it “a sickness.” Bush said freedom of religion was “under attack.” But few were more hot-blooded than Cruz, who argued that a recent battle in Indiana over a religious freedom law — ripped by opponents as an attack on gay rights — exposed many of his Republican competitors as weak-kneed.

“More than few Republicans, sadly, even more than a few Republican running for president in 2016, chose that moment to go rearrange their sock drawer,” he said. Cruz referenced William Barret Travis, who, according to legend, drew a line in the sand with his saber to determine which of his men were willing to die defending the Alamo. “You choose which side of the line you’re on,” Cruz said.

The candidates are betting that the moment is right to mobilize evangelicals and other Christians worried about the erosion of religious values in America. The latest blow, they fear, will come later this month, when the Supreme Court is set to decide whether same-sex marriage is legal nationwide. That anxiety was on display throughout the conference, which included a panel discussion dubbed “The War on Christianity” and it was threaded through many speeches by non-candidates too — Rep. Steve King called for “civil disobedience” if the Supreme Court supports gay marriage

Bush, who has run afoul of the GOP base by supporting immigration reform and Common Core education standards, emphasized his Catholicism and social conservatism.

“We shouldn’t push aside those who believe in traditional marriage,” he said, touching on a subject he rarely brings up during his forays into Iowa and New Hampshire.

As he did in his announcement speech in Miami Monday, Bush focused on his belief in religious freedom and blasted Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration for suing Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor over their religious objections to Obamacare.

“Religious freedom now is under attack more than ever before,” Bush said, as he defended religion generally as “the greatest force for good in the world.”

“If we act on our faith everyday, we’re going to create a more just, more loving world,” Bush said.

The former Florida governor reminded the audience of his intervention on behalf of Schiavo’s family in the 2005 right-to-die case in an effort to keep her alive.

“When I was asked to intervene on behalf of a woman who could not speak up for herself…I stood on her side,” Bush said.

He also emphasized his work during two terms as Florida governor regulating abortion clinics, signing a bill into law requiring parental notification and another banning partial-birth abortions.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also mentioned abortion, albeit obliquely, telling the audience it’s important to support people before and after they’re born.

“I believe if you are pro-life, as I am, you need to be pro-life for the whole life,” Christie said, pivoting to his own record and his administration’s prioritizing of drug treatment over incarceration for nonviolent offenders and its support for expanding educational opportunity through charter schools. “You can’t just afford to be pro-life when the human being is in the womb.”

In fact, the issue of abortion rarely came up in the candidates’ comments. Cruz, Paul and Sen. Marco Rubio barely discussed it at all. It was left largely to other speakers — Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Iowa’s King — to broach the subject with any force.

The forum, which continues Saturday with speeches from Carly Fiorina and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, also offered a chance for underperforming candidates to find new energy.

Jindal trails badly in early polling, but on Friday, he found a receptive audience, earning one of the most enthusiastic receptions of the morning. Jindal, who is expected to announce for president next week, tapped into the siege mentality that has gripped many religious conservatives, charging that under the Obama administration, the ability to freely practice faith is under attack. He blasted the Obamacare contraception coverage mandate that became an issue for Hobby Lobby, described his path to Catholicism — he converted from Hinduism — and jabbed at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who once opposed same-sex marriage, saying, “My views on marriage are not evolving with the polls.”

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned of an “assault on religious liberty” in America. | AP Photo

The Louisiana governor was one of the earliest and consistently loudest voices supporting the Indiana religious freedom measure and, like Cruz, tore into businesses that opposed the law.

“I’ve got a message for big business: You’re now in bed with the folks who want to tax you and regulate you,” he charged.

To big applause, Jindal argued, “The United States of America did not create religious liberty. Religious liberty created the United States of America.”

Even former New York Gov. George Pataki, whose barely perceptible presidential campaign launched last month, found that standing up for religious liberty could energize his audience. He quoted St. Francis of Assisi and hailed a recent Supreme Court ruling preventing limits on pastors who wish to advertise when they hold services.

Others tested mellower messages and mixed in stories about the role of faith in their lives, like Ben Carson, who quoted proverbs and emphasized a belief that God (not evolution) created humanity. He said that God helped him find his wife more than 40 years ago, after years of ignoring romantic relationships to focus on his studies.

“He’s available if we just ask him for stuff in terms of our faith,” he said.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich — who’s taken flak from Republicans for invoking God to justify controversial decisions — spent the bulk of his speech … invoking god to justify controversial decisions.

“I have a mission and I have a role on this Earth, but I’m trying to prepare myself for the world to come,” he said, describing his policy decisions to aid the working poor through Medicaid expansion and through de-emphasizing incarceration for convicts with mental health issues. It just so happens, he said, that those decisions made good politics, too, leading to a resounding reelection last year in which he won a quarter of the African American vote and a majority of women.

“Why did that happen? Hope returned,” he said, adding, “That’s what has to happen in America.”