Not only is businessman Vivek Ramaswamy facing an uphill battle to replace Donald Trump as the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee, he also has to overcome a smear campaign by the Christian Nationalist faction of the party which objects to his Hindu faith.
According to a report from Rolling Stone, the fast-talking Ramaswamy, who has risen to double-digit figures in recent polls and is catching up with Trump rival Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), has found an audience that is intrigued by his presidential bid and that some Christian Nationalists like him -- they just wouldn't vote for him.
As Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson wrote, a recent meet-up that included Pastors for Trump revealed a strong undercurrent of wariness of Ramaswamy due to his religion.
According to the report, "Ramaswamy is also a practicing Hindu, and though he has been campaigning as an anti-abortion religious conservative, his non-Christian faith is a major stumbling block for many in the GOP’s evangelical base. He’s been on a charm offensive with these evangelical audiences, but the outreach appears to be backfiring, at least among the Christian nationalist set."
Case in point, he notes is pro-Trump Pastor Hank Kunneman who protested, "If he does not serve the Lord Jesus Christ you will have a fight with God.”
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Addressing Ramaswamy's faith he remarked, "What are we doing?! You’re gonna have some dude put his hand on something other than the Bible? You’re going to let him put all of his strange gods up in the White House?” before adding, "I don’t care how good someone’s policies are or how good they sound if they don’t profess the name of Yeshua. You’re not bringing your idols into our country.”
Pastors for Trump founder Jackson Lahmeyer also has his doubts.
"Yeah. We need to be very clear. Vi-veek — I believe is how you say his name — he is not a Christian. He’s a Hindu. And he’s trying to appeal to the Christian base to chip away at that support, because we’re the largest base," he accused.
Rolling Stone's Dickinson added, "In reality, Ramaswamy hasn’t pretended to be a Christian. He has played up his attendance of a Christian high school in Cincinnati, and has called Jesus “a son of God” — a qualifier that’s quite different from the son of God, as held by Christians. (Many Hindus believe in a supreme God who can manifest in a variety of forms.)"
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