Is the Christians for Harris Coalition a Scam?

Kamala Harris’ campaign has been busy in recent weeks building its coalitions. There are teachers for Harris, nurses for Harris, LGBTQ people for Harris, even cat women and white men for Harris. It looks like a robust operation.

Not wanting to leave anything to chance, there is also a “Christians for Harris” coalition, which is actually the most politically sensible one. Democrats have a stranglehold on most of the aforementioned groups, but not so much on religious people. Within this demographic, Democrats have long underperformed Republicans, so targeting Christians is a smart political strategy.

But implementing that strategy is easier said than done for a party that doesn’t fully understand it. Consider this MSNBC interview with James Talarico, a Christians for Harris member and Austin-area representative in the Texas State House of Representatives. “Too many Christians have completely forgotten Jesus and are now bowing down at the feet of Donald Trump,” Talarico says, as the host nods in agreement.

Talarico is also an aspiring seminarian who hopes to earn his master’s degree in theology by 2025. So he still has time to learn that Scripture frowns on bearing false witness. Maybe he does know someone who worships the Republican presidential candidate. If so, I’d love to meet with him and tell him to stop.

The aspiring pastor then brings out the old cliché, “What would Jesus do?” and aligns his argument with his party’s platform. “What would Jesus do with a tax system that favors the rich over the poor?” he asks. “What would Jesus do with a health care system that forces sick people to set up GoFundMe pages to pay for life-saving surgeries? What would Jesus do with an education system that ties a child’s school funding to the housing wealth of their community?”

The problem with trying to fit the teachings of Jesus Christ into a political ideology is that it usually doesn’t work. I have no idea what Jesus would do about our tax code, but he might consider ending the tax breaks that rich people get for deducting their vacation homes on the water.

If Jesus wanted to look deeply into the workings of a health care system that disadvantages the poor, he might suggest getting rid of one such costly system. That’s the Affordable Care Act, signed into law by Barack Obama 14 years ago.

If Jesus wanted to analyze the American public education system, he might question the wisdom of forcing children to attend inferior schools instead of letting parents choose the best school for their children. I know Jesus said, “Let the children come to me,” but I can find no reference to any recommendation to let children come to the state.

As Talarico repeatedly invokes the name of Jesus in a 24-hour news interview, repudiating three major Democratic policies in the process, the Christian-for-Harris coalition gets even stranger. She released a video a few weeks ago featuring a well-known television personality. “I just want to say and add my voice to the many other Christian voices,” the personality said. “This joy that we’re feeling, this joy that’s sweeping the country, you know, it resonates with the kind of joy that you find in the best of the Christian church.”

Very strong statements, especially from CNN political analyst Van Jones. Jones said he became a communist in 1992 and co-founded a group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, which goes by the innocuous acronym STORM. He has sponsored study groups on Leninism, Marxism, and Maoism. Add Stalinism to that and you have the four gospels of communism.

A conversion to Christianity from Jones’ stated belief system could rightly be called a miracle, but I suspect it is something less. Van Jones is either a bad communist or a bad Christian, based on the observations of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Let us begin by saying that Communism and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible,” King said in his Aug. 9, 1953, sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. “One cannot be a true Christian and a true Communist at the same time.” Merging the two, King argued, was simply impossible. “They represent diametrically opposed ways of looking at the world and transforming it,” King preached. “We must try to understand Communism, but we can never accept it and be true Christians.”

There’s no need to wonder what Jesus would do to build a strong coalition; we already know that. He started with a dozen disciples who understood, believed, and taught the truth. From there, the truth spread to the people, and the rest is history. Given what Christians for Harris has shown us so far, this looks a bit like a scam. If they want more credibility, they might consider putting forward people who don’t condemn their own policies or foment murderous political ideologies.