Jeb Bush Describes His Not-Quite-Born-Again Conversion to Christianity

The former Florida Governor has failed to gain momentum from Republican primary voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and SC. Pataki called Trump "the know-nothing candidate of the 21st century", referring to a 19th century movement that targeted Catholic immigrants. Carson is also asking Congress to declare war on the Islamic State.

Trump, of course, defended the plan saying it wasn't about religion. When pressed, Cruz called Trump's proposal too broad, pointing out that millions of "peaceful Muslims" all over the world, in nations such as India, would be unfairly penalized. Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania accused Trump's critics of overly punctilious political correctness. We're talking about security.

Today's debate was the first for Republicans since the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, that increased concerns about terrorism in the United States.

Trump's newest rival atop the polls, Ted Cruz, declined to follow Bush in critiquing Trump, as did Marco Rubio.

Security fears have reshaped the presidential race, though outsiders like Trump continue to dominate the Republican contest. "In fact, it will push the Muslim world, the Arab world, away from us", Bush said. "It makes you sound like you are in over your head". "We need a serious leader to deal with this and I believe I'm that guy".

Ahead of Tuesday evening's GOP presidential debate, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said that he converted to Christianity during a turbulent time in the 1980s through the reading of the Scripture. Rubio focused his criticism more on President Obama for what he perceived as weak policies that led to Trump's proposal.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, completed after Trump's comments, showed him leading the field with support of 33 percent of Republican voters. But Trump has neither backed down nor dropped in national opinion polls.