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Kasich: Christians Play a Role in America's Choice between Hope or Darkness

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WASHINGTON — John Kasich emerged as the positive candidate during one of the most negative presidential campaign cycles in U.S. history.

While his candidacy never caught on, polls toward the end of the Republican primary showed the Ohio governor would have been the most formidable opponent to challenge Hillary Clinton in the general election.

But the polls proved unreliable. Although Kasich was the last Republican to exit the GOP primary, he was bested by Donald Trump – a political outsider – who defeated Clinton and became America's forty-fifth president.

Kasich says he has learned a lot since ending his bid for the Oval Office and has written about his experiences from the campaign trail in a new book, Two Paths: America Divided or United.

"One is an approach – that takes us to a dark place," he told CBN News. Kasich views that approach as one based on blaming others and scapegoating. He believes the better option is to face challenges head on, "dig into" them, and work together to realize "the future can be bright."

He advocates rising above the nation's divisions not by looking to political leaders -- but to our "common humanity."

"The need to fight the scourge of drugs in our community is not Republican or Democrat or blue or red. The need to make sure that our seniors, when they lose a spouse, don't sit in their house and have no relationship with anybody because they're so alone, that's not blue or red," said the Ohio governor. "In other words, there's so much that connects us, and we need to drive the values and the enthusiasm and the excitement and the connectedness of America from where we live up."

According to Kasich, part of the problem is the nation is retreating from its religious heritage.

"As we become more and more secularized, I think people have become not as certain as they should about the need to love God, which brings about humility — or [to] love their neighbor as they want their neighbor to love them."

While acknowledging America's multicultural makeup, Kasich personally draws on his own Christian faith and offers his opinion of a "better way to present what we should be all about when we are faithful."

"If we love our neighbor, then we respect our neighbor. If we love our neighbor, we help our neighbor," he explained. "If we love our neighbor—we all disagree from time to time, but they don't go deep and go personal."

Kasich's latest book is based on a notable speech he delivered in April 2016 in which he insisted he would "not take the low road to the highest office in the land."

Since President Trump's inauguration, Kasich has offered reserved support for his former rival and advice on his new role, urging him to be a unifier.

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About The Author

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John
Jessup

John Jessup serves as the main news anchor for CBN, based at the network's news bureau in Washington, D.C. He joined CBN News in September 2003, starting as a national correspondent and then covering the Pentagon and Capitol Hill. His work in broadcast news has earned him several awards in reporting, producing, and coordinating election coverage. While at CBN, John has reported from several places, including Moore, Oklahoma, after the historic EF5 tornado and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. He also traveled to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the height