Pound-for-pound, Jesus Christ is the most famous and celebrated liberal activist of all time. In this installment of "History's Greatest Liberals," we're going to discuss the man for whom the Christian faith was named, how exactly he classifies as one of the greatest liberal minds of all time, and how the opponents of contemporary liberal ideology might label him if he were to come back to earth tomorrow, spreading the message that he made famous in the Bible's New Testament.
By today's standards, some might label Jesus Christ as an element of the radical far-left. His views on poverty alone would give Fox News enough material to last them a few news cycles. Christ believed that a poor man had a better chance of getting into heaven than a rich man, and encouraged his followers to bestow upon themselves a vow of poverty. You might say that Jesus Christ wanted to "spread the wealth around." He expressed that the wealthy should give to the poor until they had nothing left to give, and if you think such a philosophy might have labeled him as a radical back then, just wait until we start discussing how he'd be viewed today, a subject we'll get to a bit later.
The poverty issue was but one single facet of Jesus' campaign to change the world. He spoke of world peace, equality, and he indirectly defined justice as an adoption of these principals. His view on taxes might very well force John Boehner's head to explode, too: he said "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what are God's." Translation? Pay your taxes, and don't whine about it. This quote also endorses the separation of Church and State, while we're on that subject. In Matthew 21:12, Jesus flipped the mean switch, activated his Kung-Fu grip, and set out on a destructive rampage, leveling a market. This action wasn't exactly an endorsement of free enterprise, and one might argue that Jesus would favor government regulations, so long as they protected consumers from the savagery of contemporary greed. and Jesus also made it perfectly clear that the Old Testament wasn't to be taken literally, as so many radical right Christians do today. In regards to the sabbath (Sunday, a day where you aren't supposed to labor in any way), Jesus asked if you'd rescue your son Timmy if he fell into a well (okay, I slightly altered that). "The sabbath was made for man... man wasn't made for the sabbath." In other words, the Old Testament is a guide book, not the law. Noah didn't cram every species of animal on the planet into a boat and there wasn't a worldwide flood... don't be insane. Those are stories meant to teach a moral story, nothing more!
If Jesus came to earth today, what might he think about current events? Let's pick a few of the biggest debates of our time: gay marriage, abortion, evolution, illegal immigration, and our Nation's debt and spending:
Gay Marriage: Jesus never said anything about gay marriage, and as we pointed out earlier, he didn't expect people to live by the Old Testament; he was truly progressive, and probably would have expected society to change with the times. His fight for equality and the defense of the meek (IE, minorities) proves that he would have supported gay marriage, or in the very least, he wouldn't have protested it.
Abortion: This is a tricky one; there's no way of telling if Jesus would have considered abortion to be murder, because he never specified when exactly life begins. He might have believed that life started when the Child was born, or he may have believed that kicking a man in his special bits was murder (and I don't think there's a guy on earth who'd disagree with that!) He was opposed to anyone killing anyone though, so if he did consider abortion to be murder, he'd be against it. But at the same time, he'd also be against religious fundamentalists protesting, blowing up clinics, and assassinating abortionists like Dr. Tiller. And a strong argument could be made in his feelings about the poor. A poor woman giving birth out of fear of God's wrath would be bringing a child into a deepened level poverty, so if Jesus was opposed to abortion and demanded that women give birth to children, he'd also demand that the wealthy abandon their fortunes to help these struggling new families.
Evolution: Again, Jesus pointed out that not all of the Old Testament was to be taken literally, and with his progressive views, chances are Jesus would have wholeheartedly agreed with evolution. He would have insisted that God kicked off the big bang, of course, but there's no evidence to support the notion that Jesus would have disavowed the vast majority of the scientific community and rallied against evolution.
Illegal Immigration: This is an easy one. Jesus' defense of the poor would have made this a no-brainer. I'm pretty liberal, but I'd even disagree with Jesus' opinion on this matter: he'd want us to open our borders and allow the poor and downtrodden to live here, where we often abuse our abundances (visit a $5 buffet and you'll see what I mean). We have plenty to go around, so it would only make sense that Jesus would encourage us to protect those less fortunate.
Spending & the National Debt: Jesus would have rallied against the Bush tax cuts (which account for 30% to 40% of our total total deficit) and trickle-down economic theory as efforts on the part of the wealthy to oppress the poor and feed their own selfishness. He'd also encourage us to decimate our military spending, minimizing our armed forces to the point where we can defend ourselves and nothing more. This all sounds pretty liberal to me!
Jesus was undoubtedly a liberal, but that doesn't mean he'd have voted for Democrats, or that he'd have voted whatsoever. If he did decide to vote, for whatever reason, I'm sure he'd vote for the most liberal candidates possible, which would mean he'd most likely vote Democrat or independent. But liberalism is often confused as a political affiliation, and it isn't. Liberalism and conservatism are social philosophies, not political parties. A person of a liberal mindset might vote for a Republican, and a conservative might vote for a Democrat... it all comes down to what that individual believes. In fact, some of the greatest liberals of all time, including Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, were Republicans.
Having said all of this, I don't think anyone should be surprised by the far right's reaction to Jesus were he to come back today. He would be labeled a radical leftist. The words "socialism," "communism," and "fascism," which do not mean the same thing (sorry, had to toss that in, because some people confuse them as they've avoided fancy book learnin'), would be launched as verbal barbs to assault Christ's character. He'd be called a terrorist sympathizer, a lazy bum, a dirty hippy, a treehugger, and his morality would be questioned on the second, every second.
When we strip away the mystical and ethereal aspects of Jesus' story, we're left with a stoic character of strong moral fiber and stalwart philosophy. A proud and outward liberal thinker who sacrificed himself in the name of liberal ideology. He may not have been the first person in history to endorse and live by the codes of liberalism, but it cannot be argued that he was the most famous, and those persons, of or without faith, who truly sought his message and have chosen to live by his words, are in a sense his contemporary incarnates. For spreading liberalism more than any other person in history, Jesus Christ deserves recognition as one of history's greatest Liberals.
