Donald Trump has recently accepted Jesus Christ and become a born again Christian.

This is according to one of America's leading conservative evangelical voices, who met with the Republican presumptive nominee last Tuesday along with other evangelical leaders.

Dr James C Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and a leading socially conservative voice, said Trump had recently come "to accept a relationship with Christian" and was now "a baby Christian". In an interview with Pennsylvania pastor Michael Anthony, Dobson said he knew who had led him to Christ but could not disclose who it was.

"[H]e did accept a relationship with Christ," said Dobson.

"I know the person who led him to Christ – that's fairly recent. I don't know when it was, but it has not been long. I believe he really made a commitment, but he's a baby Christian."

The claim comes after Trump has been criticised by some Christians for his confused references to faith. He said the Bible was his favourite book in August 2015 but could not name what his favourite verse was. In 2016 he was asked again and said his favourite verse was "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".

Trump has also said he has never asked for forgiveness, a cornerstone of the Christian faith.

But Dobson defended Trump's awkward points on faith. "He doesn't know our language," said Dobson in the interview. "You got to cut him some slack," he said. "He didn't grow up like we did."

He added: "I think there's hope for him. And I think there's hope for us."

Trump has recently appointed an evangelical advisory board in an attempt to win over the core socially conservative vote ahead of November.

In a meeting with evangelical leaders last week Trump promised them he was "so on your side" and questioned the veracity of his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton's faith.

"We don't know anything about Hillary in terms of religion," he told them.

He also described himself as a "tremendous believer" as he warned them not to pray for all America's leaders.

"People were saying pray for your leaders, and I agree with that ... but what you really have to do is pray for everybody to get out to vote for one specific person.

"And again, we can't be politically correct and say pray for all our leaders because all of your leaders are selling Christianity down the tubes, selling the evangelicals down the tubes, and it's a very, very bad thing that's happening."

The interview was posted by Anthony on Friday but neither Dobson nor Trump were available for comment over the weekend.