President Jesus

Pete Buttigieg is unlikely to be the Democrat’s candidate in the general election. But in light of all the attention paid to President Trump’s character flaws, and Buttigieg’s frequent contrasting of himself as Trump’s righteous counterpart, his views on faith and Christianity deserve scrutiny.

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I wonder what Jesus would do as President. If he were merely a man and not also God, or declined to use his divine powers, what would a Jesus Christ presidency look like? What decisions would he make on domestic and foreign policy? What kind of judges would he nominate to the Supreme Court? What spending proposals would he approve…how would he engage with repressive foreign regimes…what would he have to say about same-sex marriage? Would he build the wall?

Pete Buttigieg seems to think he’d channel Jesus himself if he is elected president. Perhaps that’s overstating it but he certainly has presented his candidacy as one that aligns with true Christianity, in contrast with Donald Trump’s, as well as in contrast with the whole Republican party. So it’s worth pondering, WWJDAP*?

We can dispense immediately with any uncertainties about his character. It would be impeccable. No moral indiscretions, complete honesty and transparency, merciful, loving, generous, and kind. But what about his policies? Since Buttigieg is the one most often citing faith and Christianity in promoting his candidacy, I’ll use him and his stated views as a springboard.

Pete is a gay man who claims that being married to another gay man has brought him closer to God. Would President Jesus ever be in a same-sex marriage or even support it? The claim is often made that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, implying that he didn’t think it was a big deal. Aside from being a weak argument from silence, this ignores Jesus’ implicit denouncement of homosexual behavior in his explicit reminder of God’s design for mankind:

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” – Matthew 19:4-5

Both the Old and New Testament clearly condemn homosexual behavior as an abomination and a perversion, and as one who repeatedly upheld Scripture as the divine Word of God, it matters not that Jesus is not recorded as telling his audience, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” He might as well have because he certainly believed it. But Buttigieg and others claim the prohibitions and condemnations are culturally-bound or refer specifically to abusive homosexual relationships. This is an obvious attempt to manipulate the text to say something other than what it clearly says and cannot be sustained if examined honestly. Read this for a thorough refutation of that claim.

So though President Jesus would publicly condemn “God hates fags” protesters, I am confident he would also publicly oppose same-sex marriage.

Next time I’ll ponder the “reproductive health” policies of a President Jesus.

*What Would Jesus Do As President