As Americans debate the religious significance of Saturday’s assassination attempt, former President Donald Trump is said to be feeling “spiritual” about surviving the shooting.
A source close to the former president told The Washington Post that Trump’s near-death experience turned his attention to God.
“He thinks he was handed a gift from God. He can’t believe it,” the unnamed source said to the Post.
It’s yet to be seen if Trump will confirm that report during his speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention.
Past precedent implies that Trump will not say much about his own faith but, instead, will focus his comments on what he could do for religious Americans during a second term in office.
Here’s a look at what Trump has said about religion over the years.
What religion is Trump?
For much of his life, Trump identified as a Presbyterian, which is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination.
He attended First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York, as a child, and remembered the experience so fondly as an adult that he contributed $10,000 to a church fundraiser.
“Going to church was an important part of our family life and the memories for me are still vivid — of a vibrant congregation and a lot of activities,” he wrote in a letter accompanying the donation, according to The Atlantic.
In the 1970s, Trump and his parents began attending Marble Collegiate Church, and he maintained ties to that congregation for much of the past 50 years.
Marble Collegiate Church is part of the Reformed Church in America, and it used to be led by the legendary Norman Vincent Peale, author of the bestselling self-help book “The Power of Positive Thinking,” as the Deseret News reported in 2016.
What has Trump said about religion?
During his first presidential campaign, Trump’s comments about his religious upbringing were often awkward.
He would misspeak when discussing the Bible and make odd claims about his relationship with God.
“I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture,” Trump said in 2015 when he was asked about times in his life that he’s sought out God’s forgiveness, according to CNN.
During the same event, Trump expressed surprise that people don’t see him as a religious man.
“People are so shocked when they find … out I am Protestant. I am Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church,” he said.
Despite some faith-related fumbles, Trump forged close relationships with many evangelical Christian leaders during his 2016 presidential campaign, and those relationships remain core to his current pursuit of the White House.
Trump’s ties to evangelicals may explain why he has stopped calling himself Presbyterian and started referring to himself as a nondenominational Christian near the end of his presidency.
“Though I was confirmed at a Presbyterian church as a child, I now consider myself to be a non-denominational Christian,” Trump said in an October 2020 statement to Religion News Service.
Trump’s religious policy
Multiple surveys have shown that, despite his self-presentation, most Americans continue to believe that Trump is not personally religious.
Just 29% of U.S. adults say that Trump is very (4%) or somewhat (25%) religious, according to Pew Research Center. Many more Americans (54%) believe that President Joe Biden is very or somewhat religious.
But these beliefs about Trump’s faith do not seem to deter more conservative religious people from supporting the former president.
Two-thirds of white evangelicals have a favorable view of Trump, Pew found.
A key reason for this strong support is Trump’s past policy moves related to religious freedom and his continuing promises to protect people of faith.
While serving as president, Trump expanded the religious freedom protections available to faith groups that partner with the government on social programs and added three justices to the Supreme Court who are generally supportive of religious claims.
Pew’s survey showed that 61% of Protestant Christians and 52% of Catholics in the U.S. believe Trump stands up for people with religious beliefs similar to theirs a great deal or quite a bit.
