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By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged
“How would Jesus vote?”
A panel of religious experts weighed that question at a conference in Austin, Texas.
“If ever there were a bleeding-heart liberal, it was Jesus Christ,” a left-leaning speaker proclaimed. “I think the carpenter from Galilee was the original Democrat.”
Amid a divisive presidential campaign, people of faith split along party lines on the meaning of “values voter.”
To those who follow the news, the above scenario may sound familiar — except that it occurred in the 2004 White House race between George W. Bush and John Kerry, not in the 2024 battle pitting Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump.
Twenty years ago, I worked as a Dallas-based religion reporter for The Associated Press. Many of the stories that dominated the headlines then remain relevant today.
This past week, an enlightening deep dive by AP’s Peter Smith into evangelical and conservative Christian voters — headlined “Jesus is their savior, Trump is their candidate” — reminded me of the parallels.
This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.
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