I'm generally very reticent to talk about Jesus and the Bible in a political context. Of course the Bible has much to say about politics, more than any book ever written in fact, but I know that I will bring too much of myself into the conversation. I am also aware that Jesus seemed to focus much more on matters of the heart than on the Roman empire.
Having said that, I'm finding myself getting increasingly frustrated at the politicisation of Jesus by far right populist figures. More than that, I'm getting genuinely quite angry at the way some wings of the church are coming in behind them, led by some influential Christian thinkers. In the 2024 US election, of voters identifying as “Protestant or other Christian,” 63% went for Trump and 36% went for Harris. White Christians identifying as “Protestant and other Christian” went for Trump 72% to 26% (Hughes, 2024). Parts of the church in the UK are starting to follow suit, with the recent "Arc conference" in London being well attended by Christian leaders alongside Nigel Farage, Jordan Peterson, and other far right figures.
I often wonder whether these Christian leaders are adopting a perverted and distorted version of the Gospel and the Bible in order to serve their own desire for power and relevance, or if they have just lost sight of Jesus. Either way, I honestly think it's really dangerous. Historically, the church aligning itself with far right political ideology has led to it supporting some genuinely evil things that we look back on with shame. A large number of churches in 1930s Germany ended up supporting and promoting Nazi ideology, and an even larger number said nothing. Much of the western church supported and promoted slavery.
In order to try and bring as little of myself as possible to the table, all I'm going to do in what follows is to contrast 6 teachings of the Bible with the teachings of the far right.
"Who is my neighbour?"
"On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”" - Luke 10:25-37
Contrast this story with the language of neighbours as "criminals" and "rapists". Weigh it up against the idea of the blood of a nation being poisoned by outsiders. Position is alongside images of refugee children being separated from their families or housed on the extremely unsuitable Bibby Stockholm boat. Balance it with the idea of "America First".
JD Vance recently spoke about ordo amoris, "the order of loves", claiming "there’s this old-school [concept] — and I think a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world". Whether deliberately or not, this misses the whole point of the parable of the good Samaritan. In the time this parable was spoken to a Jewish audience, the Jews hated the Samaritans. They thought they were heretics who were spiritually corrupt. It is into that context that Jesus speaks this subversive story where it is the Samaritan that has mercy. It doesn't sound a lot like first loving your family, then your neighbour, then your community and so on. Jesus was radically other-centric, and far too often extreme politicians are insular and me-centric.
Feed the hungry
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" - Isaiah 58:3-7
Trumps government recently demolished the $40bn US aid agency, with the government in the UK quickly following suit. These organizations primary purpose was to share food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter.
Just take one example in PEPFAR, the Presidents Emergency Plan for Aid Relief. Since 2003, the program has saved over 25 million lives, prevented millions of HIV infections, and supported countries in HIV epidemic control. Cutting programmes like this without any warning is hardly loosening the chains of injustice. (Oxfam America, 2025)
The love of money
The Bible talks about money. A lot. Take these two examples:
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." - 1 Timothy 6:10
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”" - Matthew 19:23-24
In spite of this, a wing of the church has decided to throw its weight in behind people who are absolutely obsessed with money, and in the process have become obsessed with money themselves. Trump repeatedly boasts about being rich, and has recruited the richest man in the world as his right hand man. Farage earns more than £1m in for work he does outside of parliament, significantly more than any other MP (Grammaticas, 2024). "It's good to make money, it's good to be rich, here's a great side hustle, here's how to start a business" is the persistent rhetoric of right wing commentators, generating a toxic aspiration for wealth that leads to creeping dissatisfaction and disenfranchisement.
The Bible warns us to be very careful with money because of its ability to corrupt. The church must not fall for a profit-before-anything-else ideology in such a way that it becomes a mouthpiece for the accumulation and hoarding of wealth.
Stewarding the Earth
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” - Genesis 2:15
The "Arc conference" in London involved a discussion on climate change which included the following:
“The one thing I hear that drives me absolutely potty is that carbon dioxide is a pollutant! That’s what they tell us! That clearly is absolutely nuts" - Nigel Farage
“Maybe it’s time to stop our obsession with carbon altogether.” - Jordan Peterson
This is despite the fact that we are clearly doing a terrible job at "taking care of" the earth that God gifted to us. There is a substantial body of evidence supporting the reality of the climate crisis, and the vast majority of scientists agree that we are damaging the climate. It is also just intuitive that pumping gas into the atmosphere isn't good, in the same way that we know pumping smoke into our lungs isn't good.
Lying
"Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another" - Leviticus 19:11
During the duration of Trumps first presidency, The Washington Post catalogued Trumps lies and misleading claims. They claimed that he made an astounding 30,573 false or misleading claims over 4 years (Kessler et al, 2024). He then continued to lie after he lost, baselessly claiming the election had been stolen. Since he's returned to office, the false and misleading claims have continued with overstatements about the amount of aid sent to Ukraine, misrepresentations of USAID spending, and the outright lie that Ukraine invaded Russia.
The creation of idols
"When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’" - Exodus 32:1-8
In perhaps the most flagrant example of all, Trump recently shared a video of "Trump Gaza", a frankly disgusting idea that denigrates the immense suffering of 2 million Palestinians in Gaza. In it, there are multiple scenes where Trump is represented in golden statues. The direct parallel to this disturbing story in exodus is unavoidable, and is surely the perfect demonstration of how much of the Church has abandoned worship of God to worship of cult political leaders.
Far right figures do not represent Jesus. They are hijacking Christianity, aided and abetted by church leaders who should know better.
In 1930s Germany, there existed a group of Churches who rejected Nazi ideology through "The Barmen Declaration", a document that outlined their response to the corruption of the German Christian movement. This declaration included six theses:
"The only source of revelation is the Word of God — Jesus Christ. Any other possible sources (earthly powers, for example) will not be accepted.
Jesus Christ is the only Lord of all aspects of personal life. There should be no other authority.
The message and order of the church should not be influenced by the current political convictions.
Leadership in the church is not dominion, it is in service of its ministry entrusted to all its members; there can be no special leader ("Führer") apart from that ministry (Mt 20, 25f).
The state should not fulfill the task of the church and vice versa. State and church are both limited to their own business.
Therefore, the Barmen Declaration rejects (i) the subordination of the Church to the state (8.22–3) and (ii) the subordination of the Word and Spirit to the Church." (Wikipedia, 2019)
The church would do well to pay attention to this declaration in our time. As it says in Galatians:
" But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23
These, and only these, are the characteristics that should mark our leaders and should form the bedrock of our personal aspirations.
NPR. (2025). Trump’s social media video garners pushback from Arabs and Muslims in U.S. and Gaza. [online] Available at: https://www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5309695/trump-gaza-video.
Hughes, C. (2024). How Trump and Harris fared with faith voters in 2024 – Baptist News Global. [online] Baptist News Global. Available at: https://baptistnews.com/article/how-trump-and-harris-fared-with-faith-voters-in-2024/.
Oxfamamerica.org. (2025). What USAID does, its impact and what Trump’s cuts mean. [online] Available at: https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/making-foreign-aid-work/what-do-trumps-proposed-foreign-aid-cuts-mean/.
Grammaticas, D. (2024). Nigel Farage earning more than £1m a year while MP. BBC News. [online] 17 Aug. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wjgkr1750o.
Kessler, G., Rizzo, S. and Kelly, M. (2021). Trump’s false or misleading claims total 30,573 over 4 years. Washington Post. [online] 24 Jan. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/.
Wikipedia. (2019). Barmen Declaration. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmen_Declaration.
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