Using Jesus As A Mascot.

On Monday, March 23rd, While holding a public safety roundtable in Tennessee at the beginning of the week, the president said about the urgency of needing to pass the Save Act, “I’m requesting that the Republican senators do that immediately. You don’t have to take a fast vote. Don’t worry about Easter going home. In fact… make this one for Jesus, okay? Make this one for Jesus. That’s what I tell them. It would be a damn good thing.” The crowd cheered and applauded.

On Tuesday, March 24th, during the House Capital Investment Committee meeting in Minnesota, looking at future weather trends and infrastructure report presentations GOP Rep. Mary Franson said, “that’s why when you talk about climate change, I don’t get upset about it, I don’t get worked up about it because my faith is not in climate change, it’s not in scientists dictating what we should and should not do to save the environment because my faith is in Jesus Christ. Right? He’s the same today, tomorrow, and forever, um yesterday, and so, um, you know, if you’ve read the ‘good book’ you know how it ends. It’s not with climate change. That’s my closing speech.”

On Wednesday, March 25th, while hosting his monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, defense secretary Pete Hegseth read a prayer he said was first given by a military chaplain to the troops who captured then-President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. Praying in the name of Jesus he said, “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation.” He went on to pray, “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” He later read from Psalm 18:37, “I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed…”

Again and again we are witnessing political leaders invoke the name of Jesus Christ not as the Prince of Peace, but as a banner over violence, domination, and indifference to suffering. So many of us who follow Jesus are grieving and beyond exhausted by our sacred faith being weaponized in this way. Our neighbors do not deserve this kind of treatment. Our reputation as followers of Jesus is being eroded if not forever distorted by this cruelty. Even so, we must still speak up and contrast these statements with scripture and the words of Jesus.

Jesus used as a mascot for dominion:

When we hear the president frame political action as something done “for Jesus,” we must remember Jesus’ own warning. He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1).

In his context, Jesus is critiquing the use of religious language to legitimize public action and gain approval. He warns that invoking God publicly can become a tool of self-justification rather than true obedience.

Jesus consistently refuses to be instrumentalized for political agendas. When offered kingship, He withdraws (John 6:15). When questioned about power, He redirects to words mercy, compassion, and justice, not ruthlessness, coercion, and dominion.

To say “do this for Jesus” in a legislative context again turns Jesus into a mascot for political power and spiritually baptizing legislation. It is especially grievous to do so over the Save Act that will most certainly disenfranchise millions of voters. 

To suggest to “do this for Jesus” reveals a deep misunderstanding of who Jesus is and who he called us to be.

Jesus used as a mascot for indifference:



When Rep. Mary Franson dismisses concern for creation by appealing to faith in Christ, she presents a false dichotomy.

Jesus never taught that trust in God permits neglect of the world God made. In fact, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus points directly to creation as a teacher of God’s character: “Look at the birds of the air… consider the lilies of the field…” (Matthew 6:26–28)

His teaching is not about dismissing the physical world, it is about attentiveness to it. Jesus assumes that creation is worth observing, learning from, and caring about.

Moreover, his first-century Jewish listeners would have understood creation as God’s entrusted order, not disposable scenery. Genesis, the very beginning of our Bibles, frames humanity as stewards of the Earth, not spectators, and certainly not exploiters.

To say, “I don’t get worked up about it because my faith is in Jesus,” is to confuse a privileged life for faith in Jesus. Stop she doesn’t have to worry about climate change because it’s not affecting her yet. To say these things is tomisunderstand Jesus’ own posture. Christ does not call us away from responsibility, He calls us deeper into it, freed from despair, but released from care.

Faith in Christ does not negate concern for the earth. It grounds it.

Also, for those who have read the end of the “Good Book” know that Revelation 11:18 says that God’s judgment includes “destroying those who destroy the earth.”

Jesus used as a mascot for merciless violence:

Pete Hegseth invoking the name of Jesus while praying for lethal precision and merciless violence obviously stands in direct and unavoidable tension with Jesus’ words: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44)

In Jesus’ context of Roman occupation, this command was not metaphorical. Jesus spoke to a people living under military domination. “Enemies” were not abstract, they were soldiers, oppressors, and collaborators.

And yet Jesus does not say “Defeat your enemies” or “Destroy your enemies” or “Pray for their annihilation”

He says to love them. Even more striking, Jesus explicitly rejects retaliatory violence: “Do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also” (Matthew 5:39)

This is not passivity, it is a radical refusal to mirror violence with violence. It disrupts cycles of domination. So to pray for “overwhelming violence” and “no mercy” in the name of Jesus is not merely a different emphasis, it is a reversal of His teaching. It is to take his name in vain.

Even the citation of Psalm 18 must be understood in context. This Psalm reflect Israel’s story and struggle, but Jesus reinterprets that tradition through Himself, redirecting His followers away from vengeance and toward enemy-love. The Sermon on the Mount is not unclear. It is just inconvenient. This is probably why the secretary of defense shies away from quoting Jesus’ own words at these prayer meetings.

The continued danger before us:

What we are seeing is not merely personal faith expressed in public office. It is something more dangerous. It is the merging of religious identity with state power in a way that distorts both.

When the state claims divine sanction, it becomes less accountable, for who dares “question God’s will?” When the Church seeks political dominance, it becomes less faithful to Jesus and simply becomes a mouthpiece for the empire.

The founders of this nation, aware of the violence done in the name of religion, enshrined the separation of church and state not to weaken faith, but to protect both faith and government from being dominated by one another.

As church history clearly shows us, whenever the sword and the cross are fused together, it is the cross that is bent in submission to the sword.

So to those who bear the name of Jesus, I know we are tired, but we must not be silent.

We are called to a higher allegiance, not to party, not to nation, but to the way of Jesus.

Let us remember, Jesus washed feet, He did not grasp for power. (John 13)

Jesus healed enemies, He did not dehumanize them. (Luke 22:51)

Jesus gave His life, He did not take lives to prove righteousness.

Mercy and compassion are not weaknesses. They are the very character of God.

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” -Micah 6:8 

And so, we again call on all who lead:

Do not use the name of Jesus to sanctify harm.

Do not baptize indifference and violence in the language of righteousness.

Do not confuse power with faithfulness.

We reject the misuse of our faith.

We refuse to let Jesus be turned into a weapon.

We stand with the vulnerable, the poor, the stranger, God’s creatures and even those who see themselves as our enemy.

For in the end, Jesus does not ask, “Did you win?”

He asks: “Did you love?” (John 13:35)

He says: “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)