Religious conservatives applauded Donald Trump throughout a speech that hardly mentioned religion on Friday.

In his address at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.— an annual conference on social-conservative values hosted by the Family Research Council —Trump delivered the stump speech voters are used to hearing, touting his front-runner status across the polls, his self-funded campaign, and the lessons outlined in his bestselling book, The Art of the Deal. Noticeably absent was any prolonged discussion of religious liberty or religious values, an odd choice given the conference’s stated purpose and the mounting skepticism over the authenticity of Trump’s evangelicalism.

Nevertheless, Trump spoke to an energized and receptive crowd. Reacting to the news of John Boehner’s impending resignation as speaker, he condemned the overall “failure” of House Republicans to push through a conservative agenda. “I wrote The Art of the Deal,” Trump said. “If they would have read it, they would have seen that . . . if the Republican establishment stuck together, if they’re unified . . . you’re going to win.”

#share#“These people [House Republicans] are babies,” he added.

Lines like these engendered the most vocal support from the audience, as did his condemnation of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. “The deal is horrible from any standpoint,” he said. “But I love bad deals because you can buy them cheap. . . . Then I fight like hell and make it a good contract.”

The only pushback from the crowd came when he lambasted fellow candidate Marco Rubio. “You have this clown Marco Rubio,” Trump began, cut off quickly by loud jeering. “You talk about weak on immigration. . . . [There’s] nobody weaker.”

#related#His few nods to religion felt shoehorned into the speech. “Freedom of religion, so important,” he said, before launching into his thoughts on the Iran deal, never to return to the phrase. “I’m gonna be the greatest jobs president that God ever created,” he said later. He wound down his address with a brief treatment of Christmas. “The word Christmas — I love Christmas — it says ‘happy holidays’ all over…I say, ‘where’s Christmas?’ [It’s] all over the stores. . . . I tell my wife not to go to those stores,” he said.

Trump’s Christianity has been called into question at different points along the campaign trail. Most recently, Ben Carson obliquely contrasted himself with Trump, saying, “I don’t in any way deny my faith in God.” The comment, for which Carson later apologized, came on the heels of Trump’s appearance on Bloomberg TV, in which he declined to name a favorite Bible verse, saying his faith is personal. Today, Trump wound down his speech by assuring listeners, “I believe in God. I believe in the Bible. I’m a Christian.”

If Trump does have a religious perception problem, though, the polls don’t show it. He continues to best every other Republican candidate in surveys of evangelicals.

— Elaina Plott is a William F. Buckley Fellow in Political Journalism at the National Review Institute.