--- title: Donald Trump God: Hopes Not to Ask 'For Much Forgiveness" description: "I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I won't have to be asking for much forgiveness." canonical: https://time.com/4361777/donald-trump-cal-thomas-forgiveness/ author: Julissa Higgins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-08T18:03:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:05.097Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Hopes Not to Have to Ask God 'For Much Forgiveness' og:description: "Hopefully I won't have to be asking for much forgiveness." og:url: https://time.com/4361777/donald-trump-cal-thomas-forgiveness/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa3a69608baf360e/69889700e20a874f9fa91269/hugh-hewitt-donald-trump-gop-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Makes Primary Night Remarks og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Hopes Not to Have to Ask God 'For Much Forgiveness' twitter:description: "Hopefully I won't have to be asking for much forgiveness." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa3a69608baf360e/69889700e20a874f9fa91269/hugh-hewitt-donald-trump-gop-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says He Hopes Not to Have to Ask God 'For Much Forgiveness' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=b21580c9-07ea-401e-9c0d-fe1fd491b585&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Julissa Higgins](https://time.com/author/julissa-higgins/) ## Julissa Higgins Jun 8, 2016 6:03 PM UTC  U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses supporters and the media following primary elections on June 7, 2016 in Briarcliff Manor, New York. U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses supporters and the media following primary elections on June 7, 2016 in Briarcliff Manor, New York. John Moore/Getty Images by [Julissa Higgins](https://time.com/author/julissa-higgins/) ## Julissa Higgins Jun 8, 2016 6:03 PM UTC Donald Trump told a well-known Christian conservative writer that he hopes not to have to ask God “for much forgiveness.” In [an interview with political columnist Cal Thomas](http://calthomas.com/node/985), the presumptive Republican nominee was asked about his statement in 2015 that he [had not asked God for forgiveness](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/trump-has-never-sought-forgiveness/). This time, he gave a slightly different answer. “I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I won’t have to be asking for much forgiveness,” he said. Trump has been courting evangelical Christians in recent weeks as he tries to unite the Republican base for the general election. [As TIME’s Elizabeth Dias reported](http://time.com/4343321/donald-trump-evangelical-social-conservative-meeting/), a group of top evangelical and social conservative leaders are planning to meet with him soon to talk about his positions and his faith. Thomas also asked Trump, who is Presbyterian, about his thoughts on Jesus. “Jesus to me is somebody I can think about for security and confidence,” he responded. “Somebody I can revere in terms of bravery and in terms of courage and, because I consider the Christian religion so important, somebody I can totally rely on in my mind.” In a 2015 interview at an Iowa event sponsored by social conservative groups, Trump said that he doesn’t “bring God into that picture” when he’s trying to make amends, though he does participate in Holy Communion. “When I drink my little wine—which is about the only wine I drink—and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed,” he said. “I think in terms of ‘let’s go on and let’s make it right.'” During the Republican primary, Thomas [opposed Trump’s candidacy](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/25/cal-thomas-donald-trump-is-not-a-conservative/), saying he did not believe he was a true conservative and arguing that his story of how he became pro-life after previously supporting abortion rights “lacks credibility.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4361777/donald-trump-cal-thomas-forgiveness/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4361777/donald-trump-cal-thomas-forgiveness/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says He Hopes Not to Have to Ask God 'For Much Forgiveness'","datePublished":"2016-06-08T18:03:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:05.097Z","description":"\"I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I won't have to be asking for much forgiveness.\"","url":"https://time.com/4361777/donald-trump-cal-thomas-forgiveness/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","faith"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa3a69608baf360e/69889700e20a874f9fa91269/hugh-hewitt-donald-trump-gop-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julissa Higgins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julissa-higgins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa3a69608baf360e/69889700e20a874f9fa91269/hugh-hewitt-donald-trump-gop-comments.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Makes Primary Night Remarks","caption":"U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses supporters and the media following primary elections on June 7, 2016 in Briarcliff Manor, New York.","creditText":"John Moore/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4361777/donald-trump-cal-thomas-forgiveness/","name":"Donald Trump Says He Hopes Not to Have to Ask God 'For Much Forgiveness'"}}]}] ```