Tony Perkins: God Using Trump to Defend Faith in US

God is using President Donald Trump "without question" to defend faith in the United States, Family Research Council President and pastor Tony Perkins said Thursday before the president's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast.

"He is the man for this time," Perkins told Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "When you look at the hostility toward faith and what happened in the last administration, you couldn't have a typical Republican come and just say, 'oh, this is bad. We're going to stop it.'"

Instead, what Trump is doing, "and what makes the left so mad" is he is "dismantling the infrastructure that they have used to advance an anti-faith, big-government agenda, and they are not going to be able to jump back into the driver's seat and take off again."

It will take "decades" for the left to rebuild that anti-faith campaign if Trump "continues to be able to advance the agenda that he gave to the American people," Perkins added.

Perkins also lauded the president for his State of the Union address.

"Faith was really at the center of the speech," Perkins said. "It's been the center of his administration."

It is also "extremely important" to many Americans that Trump has appointed several conservative judges to the bench, as they understand the foundation for the United States as a great nation involves the "values that come from faith, from the Christian faith in particular."

And as the United States calls on other nations to stop the persecution of people of faith, it is important the U.S. leads the way "by allowing people to live their lives according to their faith, and that's what this administration is doing."

Rep. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, angered many Trump backers Wednesday when he said he would cast a guilty vote against Trump. He said his faith prevented him from acquitting Trump, and Perkins said the senator is "free to do as he chooses."

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