Do you believe that Jesus was a liberal or a conservative?

Question

I know . . . it's hypothetical, but still entertaining to think about.
=+)

Answer 1

It's hard to transfer what Jesus taught in that day to present times, politically speaking.

Example; Because he saved the woman caught in the act of adultery, does that mean he would be against ALL death penalty cases?

And, if you noticed, while he saved her, he didn't back down on saying she was wrong. ("Go & sin no more.") I can imagine liberals screaming, "Who are you telling her what to do with her own body!"

He obviously wanted the poor to be taken care of, but does that mean he would have wanted the government to be in charge of it? And 50% of the rich man's income being confiscated to pay for it? That sounds more like Robin Hood than Jesus Christ!

He said you have to pay your taxes, but would he have voted for a politician who advocated fixing things by higher taxes?

He taught obedience to the government, but does that mean he wanted a big government?

I can't imagine Jesus being anything but disgusted by mid to late- term abortions, but the Bible is not specific on the subject. The issue of "when life begins" would have to be answered, first.

But as far as issues like trade unions and strong regulation of business, strong environmental regulations, animal rights & gun control, it's hard to say, exactly.

Answer 2

I guess that anyone who advocates a radical departure from the status quo would be considered a "liberal" and as such there are liberals of two sides: those who espouse an individuals freedoms and those who find that the individual has an excess of freedoms. It seems to me that the conservative is actually the one who wants to adhere to the status quo. Plato in The Republic believed in exciling artists from the city state, placing children in the custody of the state, and organizing society so that the philosophical king controls the warriors and police officers who then control the laborers (the philosophic controling the ambitious which together control the gratuitous passions that pervail in the soul and in society at large). I don't think that conservatives who advocated the status quo or those who espoused freedom of expression in his day would have liked his ideas. In the case of Jesus there is virtually no historical record of this individual beyond a name written in some Roman scrolls so what he was REALLY like is an open question or if the one depicted in the Bible is the same as the historical records mentioning the name. Remember that as the Buddha did not believe in God, heaven, hell, or the spirit and yet in most areas of the world Buddha is made into a god with heaven and hell being incorporated into the religious practice so Christianity might be a distortion of the intentions of Jesus. If the question is whether or not the mythical portrayal of Jesus in the Bible makes him a defender of freedom of expression I don't feel that the little stories that depict him give us much of an indication. He was free to dislike the money changers and usary.

Answer 3

It's a silly question, sorry. For one thing, it depends on what you mean by 'liberal' and 'conservative'; for another thing, Jesus lived in a different society 2000 years ago and those categories didn't exist at the time. All I would say is that Jesus hung out mostly (but not entirely) with poor people, unlike most conservatives.

Answer 4

Conservative in the moral sense but he was practically a socialist too. I think if Jesus could tell us what he thought about the liberal and conservative debate we'd get to see a pretty embarassing side of ourselves. A side that puts debate before caring, before charity.

It's okay to be on the right and it's okay to be on the left. But caring about people who need it should be the most important thing we can do for the mortal world.

Answer 5

I would say that Jesus would have been a liberal, due to his stand on taking care of the poor, sick and hungry. According to Matthew, Jesus proclaimed that how you treat the hungry, the thirsty, the sick and other "least of these," is how you treat Jesus himself. And if you fail to help the "least of these," Jesus promises, he will send you to Hell. Mark says: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. In short, is not "Do unto others…" the essence of liberalism's goal, and the opposite of the operating principle of the conservative Golden Calf, unregulated capitalism?

Answer 6

Neither. The Bible is quite explicit in this.

Someone asked Jesus about taxes. Jesus said "Give me a denarius" (a coin). Jesus asked "Whose head is this?", the answer was of course "Cesar". "Then render unto Cesar what is Cesar's and unto God what is God's". That is to say do not mix politics and religion.

Beside why the choice between "Conservative" and "Liberal" - this is the split in America. It is not the split anywhere else. In particular it is not the split in Israel.

Answer 7

Jesus was obviously a liberal and at times even a socialist in political leaning.

Answer 8

He would confound either side, as there are aspects of his ministry that are embraced by both camps. Jesus was an extraordinary person, and he was God, and God defies our feeble human attempts to describe and fully understand him.

Which ever side he was on, I think he would be a great guy to have on a bowling team, and have a few beers with.

Answer 9

I believe that he was neither. Jesus is in a whole different catagory. Jesus is the Son of God. He wasn't about any motive, Idea, party, or system. He was just Jesus. He is the personification of right, and good, and moral. He was just Jesus.

Answer 10

Anarcho-capitalist