While political activists gathered outside Washington D.C. last Saturday for the final day of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a group of Religious Right activists converged in Orlando for “The Awakening,” an annual conference sponsored by Liberty Counsel and the Freedom Federation. Among the major themes of the conference were the threat posed by Islamic extremism and the need for Christians to unite in resistance to the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling.

The conference opened with a video from Franklin Graham, who is in the midst of a 50-state “Decision America” tour. Graham said he had no hope for the Democratic Party, adding:

Before you Republicans out there start high-fiving each other, I don’t have any hope in the Republican Party. The only hope that I have is for Almighty God. We’ve got to get God back into the political process of our country.

We need God. We have become secular. And secularism and communism, you know, there’s no difference. Both are godless. And that’s what we have accepted and adopted the last few years is a secular form of government. And we’ve taken God out. And so our country is in trouble…

Pray that God would touch the hearts of men and women across this country to run for political office. We need Christian men and women to run, not just for president, or Senate or Congress. But think how important local elections are. We need Christian men and women running for mayors across this country. Just think of America if the majority of mayors of America were born-again evangelical Christians. Just think of the impact it would have…