Republican National Committee Chairman
(RNC) Reince Priebus calls for “loving” opposition to gay
marriage from GOP.
In an appearance on CBN's The
Brody File, Priebus was asked by host David Brody whether
evangelical voters needed to be nervous about the GOP becoming more
“tolerant” after the RNC called for greater inclusion.
“Evangelicals start to grab the
Excedrin bottles when they hear 'tolerance,' because they think, 'Oh,
no the GOP is changing and the whole gay marriage situation,'”
Brody said. “Why don't you address this and maybe put evangelicals
at ease or can you put them at ease at all here?”
“Well, one hundred percent. I don't
know if I've used the word 'tolerance.' I don't really care for that
word myself. I don't have a problem with it, I just think it has
another meaning politically that can go the other direction,”
Priebus
answered. “I happen to believe that our principles are sound.
I do believe, and I still will tell you that our party believes, that
marriage is between one man and one woman. Our party believes that
life begins at conception. I think those are foundational issues
that aren't going anywhere. But what I have said, which I don't
think should be controversial at all and I would think that
Christians and pastors and everyone in between should agree, that our
principles have to be draped in the concepts of grace, love and
respect and that's not code language, that's the New Testament. So I
don't think there should be any problem with that thinking within our
party.”
“Looking at the evidence, what you
will see is a party that embraces life, a party that embraces
marriage and a chairman that understands that there's only one
sovereign God and that we ultimately aren't dependent on what happens
in politics, that what ultimately matters in our lives is that we're
salt and light in the world and that we're honoring God in the things
that we do every day. I get that. I think our party gets that and
there's never been a movement away from that. So 'tolerance,' maybe
some people use that word. What I would tell you, when I think about
it, I think about grace, I think about love, I think about respect.
And I think those are things that are very square with our beliefs as
Christians,” he added. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
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