Washington: Jeb Bush, who launched his 2016 presidential campaign this week, issued a reminder to skeptical conservatives Friday that his faith and anti-abortion stance are front and center in his political life.
Bush, aiming to follow his father and brother into the White House, has spent months fleshing out his economic principles, denouncing the record of President Barack Obama, and jousting with reporters over brother George W. Bush`s Iraq policy.
He never hid his social conservativism, but to a degree it has simmered on the back burner as he explored a presidential run.
At the Faith and Freedom Coalition`s Road to Majority 2015 conference, however, Bush spoke openly about his conversion to Catholicism as "a total blessing," saying his "journey to faith" has informed his public service.
"How strange in our times today to hear that our faith and moral traditions are spoken (about as) some kind of backwards or oppressive force, when in fact it is really the moral foundation of our country," Bush told a few hundred people at the Washington conference of conservatives.
Bush said that as a two-term governor he built "a culture of life, from beginning to end (that) was one of the guiding principles of my joyous experience."
He recalled being "shocked" at the poor regulation of Florida`s abortion clinics when he became governor, and how he "narrowed the number" of such clinics.
In one of his most controversial moments as governor, Bush intervened in the case of Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative state for years, and fought -- ultimately unsuccessfully -- to prevent her feeding tube from being removed.
"That should be the first and most important instinct in this nation filled with charitable hearts: to stand on the side of the most vulnerable, the innocent," Bush said to applause.
Bush warned of a steady encroachment on religious liberty, saying "religious freedom now is under attack in ways that we`ve never seen before."
And he waded into the gay marriage debate, insisting that "we should not push aside those who do believe in traditional marriage."
Bush faces intense competition from a deep Republican field, including several candidates with stronger backing from evangelicals, supporters of traditional values and religious freedom advocates.
Senator Ted Cruz won huge plaudits at the conference Thursday when he vowed to protect religious freedom at virtually any cost.
"I will never, ever, ever shy from standing up and defending the religious liberty of every American," Cruz said.
