Nothing has made me sadder than seeing Jesus co-opted by politicians.

I grew up Catholic at a time when the Church was trying to hew a little closer to its humble beginnings. Abortion–the biggest conservative political catalyst of the last 40 years–wasn’t a hot-button issue for the Church yet. In my parochial school, we learned the basic gospel lessons: Feed the hungry. Comfort the sick. Welcome the stranger. Free the prisoner.

The Jesus I grew up with preached a message of—dare I say it?—social justice. I don’t recognize him in Tennessee’s militantly Christian legislators, who quote scripture while keeping folks poor, ignoring the sick, demonizing immigrants, and incarcerating as many people as possible to feed the for-profit prison industry.

Here’s the crazy thing: These same legislators claim to be fiscally conservative. But if they were, they’d be big fans of social-justice Jesus. Study after study has shown the economic merits of his message.

I’m a big believer in separation of church and state. But here in Tennessee, land of evangelical lawmakers, we’d all be better off if they all had a real come-to-Jesus moment.

Allison
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