Ralph Reed rejects claim that Jesus was a socialist; Bible is not ‘a religious Communist Manifesto’

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Conservative Christian leader Ralph Reed has denounced recent comments at a prominent Democratic Party leadership event arguing that the Bible and Jesus promoted socialism.

Speaking with Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham on Monday evening, Reed argued that the Bible is not “a religious Communist Manifesto” and Jesus was not “a Birkenstock-wearing socialist.”

“I don’t think that this is going to sell in the heartland because the good news is Christians in America know their Bible and they know that the Bible teaches that ‘he who does not work shall not eat,’ it talks about the importance of work, and it talks about the importance of being productive,” said Reed.

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“Yes, we’re called to care for the poor, and the needy, and the infirmed, and the alien, and the stranger, but that call is to the faithful. It calls to those closest to the need to meet that need. Not big government, not bureaucrats in Washington.”

Ingraham brought up South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a practicing Episcopalian who is in a same-sex marriage who talks openly about his Christian beliefs on the campaign trail.

Reed responded that he was waiting for Mayor Buttigieg and his peers to give the biblical justification for legalized late term abortion, which the Democratic presidential hopeful supports.

“Here is what I think people are hungering for. They’re hungering for leaders who can make a connection between their faith and their values and public policy,” continued Reed.

“When it comes to the sanctity of life, and religious freedom, and support for Israel, and the protection of the least among us, and speaking out for the poor and meeting their needs, it’s a question of what is most effective … and what’s closest to those in need, and big government is the last one that will do that.”

Reed argued that this and other faith talk on the part of Democratic leaders and supporters was in response to the 2016 election, when large numbers of religious believers voted Republican.

“They lost the evangelical vote by 65 points, they lost the Catholic vote by 10 points, they lost faithful frequently Mass-attending Catholics by 24 points,” he said.

“They’ve belatedly realized that if their Party kicks voters of faith in the teeth and calls them ‘irredeemable’ and essentially says they’re ‘deplorables,’ that those people might not be drawn to them.”

Reed’s comments came in response to a speech by the Reverend William Barber II at a Democratic National Committee Summer Meeting last week.  

“If someone calls it socialism, then we must compel them to acknowledge that the Bible must then promote socialism because Jesus offered free healthcare to everyone and he never charged a leper a co-pay,” stated Barber.

“The Bible says that a nation will be judged by how it treats the poor, and the sick, and women, and the immigrant. The Bible says that God makes it rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you want to call caring for folk ‘socialism,’ then the Constitution is a socialist document — because it calls us to promote the general welfare and to establish justice.”