Jindal calls change to Indiana beliefs law disappointing

CEDAR RAPIDS, Ia. – Potential presidential candidate Bobby Jindal weighed in Friday on Indiana's controversial religious freedom law, calling news of protections added to the law yesterday for LGBT people a disappointment.

The Indiana law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, has dominated national news since its passage last week after critics argued it could legalize protection for businesses that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people for religious reasons.

"What I've read, what I'm concerned about, is that it looks like they need to take steps to proactively defend evangelical Christians who could face discrimination if they don't want to participate in a marriage that violates their religious beliefs," Jindal told reporters.

Several Republican presidential candidates — including Jindal, the governor of Louisiana — voiced support for the law in recent days. On Thursday, the state amended the law to offer limited protections around sexual orientation and gender identity.

Jindal, in a speech to more than 900 evangelicals at a Good Friday prayer breakfast, called opposition to the law an affront to religious liberty.

"I don't know about you, but sometimes it feels like evangelical Christians are the only group that it's OK to discriminate against today in this society," said Jindal, who has called himself an "evangelical Catholic."

Jindal, whose state passed a religious protection law in 2010, also voiced approval for a Louisiana legislator mulling a bill that would add protections to religious business owners there.

In the 1990s, religious protection laws passed with little controversy, Jindal noted.

"They were happy to support these laws when it was for Native American groups, when it was for other groups that were facing discrimination," Jindal told reporters, adding "We should want these rights for all Americans, including evangelical Christians."

Jindal has spent 11 days in Iowa during the 2016 cycle, according to Des Moines Register records, mostly connecting with evangelical conservative activists. Considered a rising star of his party when he became governor in 2008, Jindal has since seen fresher Republican faces cruise past him in presidential polls.

Still, an organization Jindal started is sending three staffers to Iowa and plans to open an office soon.

Friday's prayer event took place at a downtown Cedar Rapids hotel, where Jindal received second billing to fellow Louisianan Willie Robertson, star of the reality TV show "Duck Dynasty."

Jindal called his friend Robertson "an icon, a cultural figure and a hero of many." Robertson, during his address, spoke fondly of Jindal, too.

"If you had told me I was going to be going around with the governor to Iowa, where we were going to speak together and my name would be in bigger font than his, I'd say, 'No way. There's no way that's going to happen,' " said Robertson, sporting his signature beard and American flag bandanna headband.

Event attendee Bruce Briezen, a 49-year-old business manager from Cedar Rapids, said Jindal's Christian values resonated well with him.

"It sounds like he has really good common sense that we really appreciate and need in the country right now," said Briezen, who currently favors Cruz ahead of 2016.

At the close of his speech, Jindal urged Christians gathered there to not lose heart.

"He doesn't promise us that our team's going to win today. He doesn't promise us that everything we want to happen is going to happen today or tomorrow," Jindal said. "But he lets us look on the last page … And on the last page of the book of life, God wins."