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Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., recently gave an interview with the Washington Post. In this interview, he both praised Trump and defended his stance on evangelical politics––a stance he wrongly believes to be the normative evangelical political position. In this interview, his theology (if you can even call it that) is weak. Here are some of the issues.

It’s such a distortion of the teachings of Jesus to say that what he taught us to do personally — to love our neighbors as ourselves, help the poor — can somehow be imputed on a nation. Jesus never told Caesar how to run Rome. It’s a distortion of the teaching of Christ to say Jesus taught love and forgiveness and therefore the United States as a nation should be loving and forgiving…

What a tricky argument Falwell Jr. makes here. In essence, he’s suggesting that religion is and individual affair, and that politics and religion are inherently separate. With that argument as a foundation, he can suggest that Jesus’ teachings only apply to an individual and not a nation. As a result, the nation––and the nation’s leader––can do despicable things. Ergo Trump isn’t so bad.

But there are so many problems with this argument. First, nations as we understand them didn’t exist in Jesus’s time. Jesus wasn’t thinking about things in terms of nations and individuals because that’s a very modern way of seeing the world. It’s also very modern to think that religion is an individual and not a communal phenomenon. Jesus speaks of a kingdom of heaven––that’s a community of people. He laid down guidelines to live together in community, and that can more easily extend to nations than to individuals. And finally, Jesus absolutely did tell Caesar how to run Rome! His Passion was a giant middle finger to Roman authority. His teachings challenged Roman rule in subtle, but powerful ways.

The government should be led by somebody who is going to do what’s in the best interest of the government and its people. And I believe that’s what Jesus thought, too.

This is stunningly wrong and self-defeating. First, in the best interest of the government and the government’s people? That’s corruption. Second, Jesus absolutely, categorically, did not teach this and there is no scripture to support it. There’s a line in Romans about obeying the government, but that’s Paul’s teaching, not Jesus’. Moreover, Jesus’ teachings point people away from earthly power––think of the rich young ruler.

There’s two kingdoms. There’s the earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom. In the heavenly kingdom the responsibility is to treat others as you’d like to be treated. In the earthly kingdom, the responsibility is to choose leaders who will do what’s best for your country.

I’m not sure where he’s getting this binary from. Jesus talks about only one kingdom––the kingdom of heaven.

It’s fine for Falwell Jr. to support Trump, but it’s very incorrect to claim that his reasons for doing so are scriptural. His reasons are laid out clearly in the interview:

Why have Americans been able to do more to help people in need around the world than any other country in history? It’s because of free enterprise, freedom, ingenuity, entrepreneurism and wealth. A poor person never gave anyone a job. A poor person never gave anybody charity, not of any real volume. It’s just common sense to me.

I’m reminded of a Bible verse. Perhaps Jesus was wrong, though, and giving out of poverty isn’t the best way to go. Maybe he should have got the poor woman a job at Facebook so she could write a fatter check.

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