Evangelicals vet Gov. Rick Perry at Texas retreat
Evangelicals vet Gov. Rick Perry at Texas retreat
By Tom Hamburger and Matea Gold, Washington Bureau
September 2, 2011
Reporting from Washington
The Republican presidential hopeful discusses his faith and pledges to pursue Christian conservatives’ antiabortion and anti-gay-marriage agenda.
On a remote ranch more than 70 miles west of Austin, Texas, top evangelical leaders from around the country assembled last weekend for a private two-day retreat.
Rick Perry by Gus 802
It wasn’t a religious revival that drew the group of 200, which included luminaries of the Christian right; it was the chance to hear the personal testimony of one man: Rick Perry.
Inside an air-conditioned tent, the Texas governor and Republican presidential contender was grilled about his beliefs and his record in extraordinarily frank sessions. He responded by describing his relationship with Jesus and pledging to pursue the antiabortion and anti-gay-marriage agenda championed by the evangelical right, according to multiple participants.