Lately I’ve been binge-watching “The Chosen.” If you’re not familiar with the series, it is an historical drama based on the life of Jesus as seen through his disciples. Now in its fourth season, the series shares an authentic and intimate look at Jesus’ revolutionary life and teachings.

As I watch each episode, I find myself trying to absorb Jesus’ lessons and how they apply to my life as an American in the 21st century. As we are in an election year, I’ve also been trying to use the lessons as a guide for evaluating the positions of political candidates.

Frankly, I’m finding this very difficult.

When I first became politically aware in the 1970s, Jerry Falwell and other firebrand ministers were organizing a religious right political movement. The movement embraced conservatives in government, purportedly in reaction to the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that protected abortion as a right.  The movement also espoused a platform of family values.  

The call of the movement was very clear: “God is with us.” 

Religious right voters have been a solid bloc for Republicans ever since.  When I consider what the Republican platform supports today, it is hard to see how any of it reflects the lessons of Jesus.  

Here are several examples.

What is the basis for the Christian voice being anti-immigration? Republicans are bombarding the voting public with messages of hatred and fear, accusations about criminals and drug lords invading our country, and the need to build a wall.  I guess I haven’t yet seen the episode of “The Chosen” where Jesus teaches why we should build a wall.

I know the rebuttal is that we are only opposed to illegal immigration. Asylum application is a legal process in the U.S. Our country, along with democracies everywhere, is facing a global crisis of desperate migrants trying to find a safe place to live and thrive. 

When have Republicans ever offered any kind of legislative solution? We actually got close to a bipartisan bill in the Senate until Donald Trump killed any chance of passing it.

Some people vote Republican because they are “pro-life.” Specifically, they want to protect the lives of the unborn.  What is “pro-life” about refusing to restart a child tax credit that enabled 7 million American children to eat daily? What is “pro-life” about an isolationist foreign policy that ignores tyranny, injustice, and world hunger?

What is “pro-life” in fighting against healthcare for all? Again, I must’ve missed the episode about the importance of protecting capitalism and for-profit companies in the healthcare sector of our economy.  Or the episode about criminalizing the homeless for sleeping in public.

More and more people are suffering due to an increasingly extreme climate.  We know scientifically that we are killing our planet, which is a gift from God. 

What is “pro-life” in wanting to resist or unravel our progress toward clean energy? When did the economic costs of weaning ourselves off oil become more important than human life?

Every time he opens his mouth, Donald Trump shows us a new level of disrespect, depravity and moral bankruptcy. What does support of him and the Republicans that mimic and encourage him say about family values? How do you explain to children that they shouldn’t insult others when they see a former president do it constantly?

Having survived an assassination attempt, Trump is now suggesting this was God’s will for him to be our next leader. I’m pretty sure God doesn’t have a horse in this or any political race.  Kings used to justify their monarchies as anointed by God – a premise we should all now understand as ridiculous and sacrilegious.  Yet countless evangelical and Christian clergy clamor to be on Trump’s bandwagon regardless of his behavior.  

It reminds me of the Pharisees Jesus battled throughout his life.

I believe most, not all, of the religious right are righteous people with good hearts who embraced the Republican Party as the one most likely to align with their values. But that party has strayed very far from its traditional values. It no longer is your grandfather’s party. Do you really want to put MAGA in your knapsack as your petition to the Pearly Gates?

It’s OK  not to vote Republican. You’re not defying or abandoning God.  Only Republican supporters can reclaim the value system of their party. The irony is that the ones trying to do so are denigrated and branded as “RINOs.”  

Jesus shook it up with the Pharisees of his time.  If not now, when will you be ready to do the same?