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\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0told a group of evangelicals they \u201ccannot afford to sit on the sidelines\u201d of the 2024 election, imploring them at one point to \u201cgo and vote, Christians, please!\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also endorsed displaying the Ten Commandments in schools and elsewhere while speaking to a group of politically influential evangelical Christians in Washington on Saturday. He drew cheers as he invoked\u00a0a new law signed in Louisiana this week<\/a>\u00a0requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cHas anyone read the \u2018Thou shalt not steal\u2019? I mean, has anybody read this incredible stuff? It\u2019s just incredible,\u201d Trump said at the gathering of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. \u201cThey don\u2019t want it to go up. It\u2019s a crazy world.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Trump a day earlier posted an endorsement of the new law on his social media network, saying: \u201cI LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT \u2014 HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???\u201d<\/p>\n The former president and\u00a0presumptive<\/a>\u00a0Republican presidential nominee backed the move as he seeks to galvanize his supporters on the religious right, which has fiercely backed him after initially being suspicious of the twice-divorced New York City tabloid celebrity when he first ran for president in 2016.<\/p>\n That support has continued despite his\u00a0conviction<\/a>\u00a0in the first of four criminal cases he faces, in which a jury last month found him guilty of falsifying business records for what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s\u00a0stated opposition<\/a>\u00a0to signing a nationwide ban on\u00a0abortion<\/a>\u00a0and his reluctance to detail some of his views on the issue are at odds with many members of the evangelical movement, a key part of Trump\u2019s base that\u2019s expected to help him turn out voters in his November rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n But while many members of the movement would like to see him do more to restrict abortion, they cheer him as the greatest champion for the cause because of his role in appointing U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned national abortion rights in 2022.<\/p>\n Trump highlighted that Saturday, saying, \u201cWe did something that was amazing,\u201d but the issue would be left to people to decide in the states.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery voter has to go with your heart and do what\u2019s right, but we also have to get elected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While he still takes credit for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Trump has also warned abortion can be\u00a0tricky politically for Republicans.<\/a>\u00a0For months, he deferred questions about his position on a national ban.<\/p>\n Last year, when Trump\u00a0addressed<\/a>\u00a0the Faith & Freedom Coalition, he said there was \u201ca vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life\u201d but didn\u2019t offer any details beyond that.<\/p>\n In April of this year,\u00a0Trump said he believed the issue<\/a>\u00a0should now be left to the states. He later stated in an interview that he would not sign a nationwide ban on abortion if it was passed by Congress. He has\u00a0still declined to detail his position<\/a>\u00a0on women\u2019s access to the abortion pill mifepristone.<\/p>\n About two-thirds of Americans say abortion should generally be legal, according to polling last year by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.<\/p>\n Attendees at the evangelical gathering on Saturday said that while they\u2019d like to see a national abortion ban, Trump isn\u2019t losing any of their deep support.<\/p>\n \u201cI would prefer if he would sign a national ban,\u201d said Jerri Dickinson, a 78-year-old retired social worker and Faith & Freedom member from New Jersey. \u201cI understand though, that as in accordance with the Constitution, that decision should be left up to the states.\u201d<\/p>\n Dickinson said she can\u2019t stand the abortion law in her state, which does not set limits on the procedure based on gestational age. But she said outside of preferring a national ban, leaving the issue to the state \u201cis the best alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n According to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of the electorate, about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters supported Trump in 2020, and nearly 4 in 10 Trump voters identified as white evangelical Christians. White evangelical Christians made up about 20% of the overall electorate that year.<\/p>\n Beyond<\/a> just offering their own support in the general election, the Faith & Freedom Coalition plans to help get out the vote for Trump and other Republicans, aiming to use volunteers and paid workers to knock on millions of doors in battleground states.<\/p>\n Trump is also rallying voters in Philadelphia, where supporters were gathering to hear him speak at an arena.<\/p>\n Tyler Cecconi, 25, of Richmond, Virginia, said he\u2019s glad that Trump is stepping out of his comfort zone and going to places that may not be red. At the venue, organizers hung a banner that read \u201cPhiladelphia is Trump Country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s showing the people that regardless if you vote for him or not, or if it\u2019s a blue county or a red county, it doesn\u2019t matter to him,\u201d Cecconi said. \u201cA president is for everybody in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n