Why do Republicans idolize a liberal socialist (Jesus)?

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Liberalism and Socialism are modern constructs, and it would be as much a mistake to attribute them to Jesus* as it would to attribute neoconservatism, supply-side economics, or American exceptionalism to Jesus.

Christianity has lasted nearly 2000 years for a reason. It is very malleable and adaptable to multiple cultures.

*Whether we are talking about the historical Jesus or the mythological Jesus of the canon evangelists, the point is the same.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Lots of revisionism going on in this thread in general.

I'd say it's more presentism than revisionism.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

The use of Jesus to promote opposite ends of the political spectrum also goes back centuries. In the 17th century, Absolutists invoked divine right, claiming that since Jesus was "king of kings," monarchs of the time were only answerable to him, and he granted them secular authority on earth. To them, Christ denoted regal splendor and majesty. Radical reformers like the Puritans, who - and I'm going to engage in my own bit of presentism - were in some ways the forerunners of the republican revolutionaries, anarchists, socialists, and communists in the centuries that followed, saw Jesus much like the religious left does today: primarily concerned with the welfare of the poor and sick, and a critic of the political establishment and the elite.

Having spent a lot of time in Evangelical churches, I know a little about how this culture thinks. To them, Christians are a light in the darkness. This darkness is due to human sin, and promoted by the "authorities and powers of the world." It's why conspiracy theories about shadowy "new world orders" are so popular in this group. Of course, John's Revelation throws fuel on this fire. It's also why so many of them love Trump. Jesus, to them, is the humble country boy who spoke truth to the powerful. While they have no illusions of Trump as a country boy (or even a great guy) they see him as a non-politician punching the entire political establishment in the face, like Jesus overturning the money changers' tables in the Temple.