WASHINGTON — The 2016 Republican hopefuls are offering new insight into how faith would guide their decisions in the White House.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush calls his Catholic faith “an organizing part of my architecture.” Ohio Gov. John Kasich says religion gives him more empathy toward the poor. And Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas cites his Christian values in lashing out at the Supreme Court.

Such are the views of the Republican presidential hopefuls in Washington this week for one of the nation’s premier gatherings of Christian activists.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual conference began the day after nine people were shot to death inside a South Carolina church, offering a grim backdrop to the three-day meeting designed to give religious activists a closer look at the large class of GOP candidates and other leaders considering bids.

“We pray that this might be a time of spiritual revival and faith,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Friday.

Beyond the horrors in South Carolina, presidential prospects offered religious conservatives an intimate look at the role of faith in their public lives.