Jonathan Saenz, President of Texas Values Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jonathan Science is with this President of Texas Values. I'm
looking at this research piece from Pew Jonathan that says
a growing share of US adults say religion is gaining
influence in American life. I assume they're talking about their
own personal experiences.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
What do you think, Yeah, listen, I think we're seeing
evidence of it all around us. I mean, there are
reports that Bible cells are up, that you know, reports
of people going back to church on a regular basis.
Those numbers are up. And it's interesting because around this
time every year, I usually do an interview with your
station or others where they're talking about that religion is

(00:38):
on the decline, and so it's great to see that
that trend has been reversed. I believe that it has
something to do in part with what happens in our
elective government and in our state legislatures. You know, in
Texas we've passed some religious freedom laws to pass a
couple of different legislative sessions. We've got a new law
that has the Ten Commandments being displayed in our public

(01:02):
school classrooms, that has protected prayer for students and employees
and public schools. And you know, Supreme Court decisions We've
had Supreme Court decisions the past two or three years
that have held religious freedom. So when you have that
type of protection, I think it sends a message too
for people that their freedoms are protected, they're more likely

(01:23):
to express it. But I think there's been a lot
of conflict, you know, going through COVID and some of
those things the past few years a few years ago
have led people to look inward. And also sometimes when
you go through a lot of struggles, you look for
something that you can count on and something that's consistent,
and that's I think in part leading people back to

(01:43):
their faith and oftentimes their Christian faith.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
And I think too, Jonathan, you can't discount the Charlie
Kirk assassination, and maybe even more than his assassination, but
the funeral of the remembrance that was carried by all
the virtually all the news was covered to cover on
Fox News. I think people watched that and they got
a very positive religious message from it on forgiveness and

(02:08):
a lot of other things. And I think people were
comforted by that and realized that there was something missing
in their lives.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, there's no doubt been a Charlie Kirk effect as
it relates to people buying bibles, going back to church,
discovering their faith for the first time, or going back
to it. Almost an accelerator. I wish that wasn't the reason.
And I think the assassination of Charlie Kirk has been awful.
You know, in our organization, Texas Values, did a lot

(02:36):
of work during the state legislature on religious freedom. We
had an event three weeks ago where we talked about
the Charlie Kirk effect and so on, and I think
that allowed people to publicly get more involved in their faith,
if you will. But to see all these leaders, you know,
you saw the vice president, the Secretary of State talking
so clearly about their religious faith and oftentimes about their

(02:59):
Christian faith. You know, hundreds of thousands of people at
this event in Phoenix, Arizona, the memorial for Charlie Kirk.
I believe that had something to do with people getting
more involved in their faith. And you know, I think
this was a trend that was already starting. But like
I said, I think this was an accelerator, and I
think it's something people are going to be thinking about

(03:19):
in this election cycle. You know, do our candidates support
that religious freedom and I also think it's interesting too
after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, sadly awful occurrence, but
the response to that was people of faith that were
doing those types of things peacefully. You didn't see, you know,
cities being you know, burned down and looting. You saw

(03:42):
people going back to church more and being more reflective.
And a lot of that had to do with what
Charlie Kirk was doing in his own life the past
year or two. I think that lot led a lot
of young people back to their faith or for the
first time, and a lot of that trend that you're
reading in those polls has to do with gen Z
and also millennials getting more involved in their Christian faith.

(04:04):
Young people leading is a good thing, yep, but sure is.
Thank you, Jonathan Appreciated, President of Texas Values, Jonathan Science