--- title: Republican Debate: Marco Rubio Makes Religious Pitch description: Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida used a debate to appeal directly to the Hawkeye State's Christian voters. canonical: https://time.com/4199328/republican-debate-marco-rubio-faith/ copyright: © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. terms: https://legal.time.com/terms-of-service/ license_contact: syndication@time.com author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-29T06:31:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:57.351Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Makes Religious Pitch At GOP Debate og:description: In a bid to reach Evangelical voters. og:url: https://time.com/4199328/republican-debate-marco-rubio-faith/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3c097b677a2d6db/69887b2f196cf4dfac03a15d/republican-presidential-debate-gop-religion-christian.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Attendees pray during the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition event for potential 2016 Republican presidential contenders. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Makes Religious Pitch At GOP Debate twitter:description: In a bid to reach Evangelical voters. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3c097b677a2d6db/69887b2f196cf4dfac03a15d/republican-presidential-debate-gop-religion-christian.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rubio Makes Religious Pitch at GOP Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e40565e1-b801-4312-8117-64f5796ece77&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch The Republican Debate in Under 4 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch The Republican Debate in Under 4 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yAWlwSjX.m3u8) (3:34)  _Published 2016-01-29. GOP Debate-012816-v1_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 29, 2016 6:31 AM UTC GOP Debate-012816-v1 by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 29, 2016 6:31 AM UTC Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida used the final debate before the Iowa caucus as an opportunity to appeal directly to the Hawkeye State’s Christian voters. Though Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have captured the attention of the state’s conservative Christians, Rubio showed made a point to tout his personal religious views throughout Thursday night’s debate. When asked to explain how is trailing Donald Trump in the polls despite being hailed as the “Republican savior” by TIME Magazine, Rubio cited a savior he feels trumps them all. **Read More:** [_Why Trump Is Winning Over Christian Conservatives_](http://time.com/4189587/donald-trump-christian-conservatives/) “Let me be clear about one thing, there’s only one savior and it’s not me,” he said. “It’s Jesus Christ who came down to Earth and died for our sins.” At one point in the evening, Rubio said “Judeo-Christian values” are what makes America a “special country.” “Why are we some of the most generous people in the world? Why do American contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax write off,” Rubio said. “It is because in this nation we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor.” “You should hope that our next president is somebody who is influenced by their faith,” the Florida Senator said before saying his faith would drive him as commander-in-chief. During his closing statements, Rubio brought it back to the Bible. “The Bible commands us to let our light shine on the world,” he said. “For over 200 years, America’s light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that’s why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important.” Thanks to Rubio, faith had a major moment at Thursday night’s Republican debate which occurred just days before the Iowa caucus where nearly 60% of caucus-goers in 2012 identified as born-again or evangelical Christians. Several other candidates approached the concept of faith throughout the debate, particularly when the moderators posed questions on social issues.  Marco Rubio speaks during a Republican presidential debate, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa. Chris Carlson—AP On the topic of abortion, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued that government doesn’t work without a “virtuous people,” quoting English theologian Os Guinness. “I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction,” he said. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, meantime, made religious references when touting his record on treating the mentally ill and those addicted to drugs. “When I study Scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance,” he said. “The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet.” And Gov. Chris Christie made a religious liberty argument when talking about the need to fight “the radical Islamic jihadists.” “The reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty,” Christie said. “As commander-in-chief, I will take on ISIS not just because it keeps us safe but because it allows us to absolutely conduct our religious affairs the way we want to in our heart and in our souls.” ## Transcript Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate. I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. [ LAUGH ] Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way. [ LAUGH ] He's an entertaining guy, he's the greatest show on earth. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I kind of Donald Trump, he was a little teddy bear to me. I want to thank Everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect, to show up and make the case to the people of this state and people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best Commander- in- Chief. I've been held accountable for six years of the Governor of New Jersey. And with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative Things done. That is exactly what I'll do as a president of United States. The ball collection of your phone data. The invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a fall sense of security. We cannot fix these things in this country. The sole security, the boarder Balancing the budget. Getting wages to grow faster. Unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We need people who think out of the box, and can solve problems. The last four questions have been, Rand please attack Ted. Marco please attack Ted. Chris please attack Ted. Jeb please attack Ted. It is a debate, sir. If you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. You cannot destroy ISIS with a military that's being diminished. When I'm President we are rebuilding the U. S. military because the world is a safer and a better place. When America's the strongest military in the world. You claim it is tough talk to discuss carpet bombing. It is not tough talk. It is a different fundamental military strategy than what we've seen from Barack Obama. We need to arm directly to Kurds, embed our troops with the Iraqi military, re- engage with the Sunni tribal leaders, get the lawyers off the damn backs of the military once and for all. Arming the allies of ISIS will make the situation worse. Then what we really need to do is defeat ISIS, but if you defeat Assad, what you will wind up with is a larger and more powerful ISIS that occupies that space. If there were someplace in this country where radical Jihadists are planning to attack the United States, we will go after them wherever they are, and if we capture them alive, They are going to Guantanamo. And if you wanna defend the country, it begins with border security, and this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. You can't be in favor of defending us against Islam, radical Islam, if you're not for border security. I will support law Law enforcement and we will stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting out intelligence community and our law enforcement community. We need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies. We are a nation of immigrants. As such, everyone is welcome, from any race, any country, any religion if they wanna be Americans. We are not gonna round up and deport 12 million people but we are not gonna go around handing out citizenship cards either. Nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran or they can do business with America. And I am very confident that they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. If we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it We're gonna go take it out. What we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African American males. Get rid of Planned Parenthood funding for the United States of America. [ APPLAUSE ] Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is a good candidate for president of Sweden. Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the Commander and Chief of the United States. 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