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Evangelicals Refuse to Support Romney, Urge Voters to Write In Jesus
Internet evangelist Bill Keller is urging the faithful to promise to vote for Jesus for president in this election.
So far, his website, VotingforJesus.com, says it has more than 1.6 million pledges to write in the name of Jesus on their ballots instead of any other presidential candidate.
If even half of those who signed the pledge vote accordingly, this could signal real trouble for Mitt Romney in close races by reducing the pool of voters who usually opt for the GOP.
But Keller, in an email interview, argues otherwise. “A large percentage of the people signed up are part of the 9 million self-identified evangelicals who never voted at all in 2008,” he maintains. “While they will write in the name of Jesus for president, they will also vote for men and women who share their faith values down ticket. It is flawed logic that if you don’t vote for Romney, you are costing him votes or helping Obama. The only way to vote for either man is to vote for them.”
Keller also notes that those who signed the pledge “seem very serious and happy to have an outlet to take a stand for their faith.” He adds that the point of writing in Jesus’s name is not that he will win, but that the exercise offers those who pledge a chance “to take a stand for their faith by writing in the name of Jesus, to bring awareness that the real problems in this nation are NOT political, they are spiritual.”
How much impact this effort will have on the outcome at any level is anybody’s guess until the votes are counted and the exit polls analyzed the every last morsel of meaning.
It is clear right now, however, that Keller, who claims an audience of more than 2.4 million for his daily religious messages, has the ability to influence the actions of millions of them at least to the extent of making a promise on how they will vote.
Other conservative Christians have noticed and taken Keller to task for it, even going so far as to redirect a search for .org version of Keller’s VotingforJesus.com web address to a website where they argue that Keller’s pledge will take votes away from Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
It’s a fascinating glimpse into this year’s split between uber-right Christian voters who previously have cast their ballots pretty much in lock-step for GOP candidates like George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan. This year, with a Mormon the GOP standard-bearer, a significant proportion of these once reliable voters are not having any of it.
Yet few mainstream commentators are willing to tackle out loud the subject of religious bigotry’s influence on election outcomes. After all, doesn’t Billy Graham’s endorsement of Mitt Romney mean that religious conservatives pretty much have accepted the latter as the Republican most likely to win?
Keller, who condemned Graham’s acceptance of Romney, disagrees in fiery rhetoric that he wields unsparingly. “On every major spiritual issue of the day, President Obama has proved to be an enemy of God and a true tool of Satan!” he writes on the home page of VotingforJesus.com.
Of Obama’s GOP opponent, he declares, “If Mitt Romney is elected, he will be the fulfillment of his cult’s polygamist, pedophile, racist, con artist, murdering founder Joseph Smith’s ‘White Horse’ prophecy that Romney and all Mormons believe.”
Virulently anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-Mormon and more, Keller spent time in federal prison after being convicted of insider trading. His organization, St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Bill Keller Ministries, has been branded a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which he has threatened with a defamation lawsuit.
Keller represents the extreme wing of conservative Christian political activists. The rest of us ignore or discount him and them at our peril, because they have deadly serious political ambitions backed by deep pockets and clout.
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46 Responses to Evangelicals Refuse to Support Romney, Urge Voters to Write In Jesus
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TStMauro
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 5:29 pm
And their VP choice will be who? John? Peter? The Holy Spirit? Those that do need to see professional help.
Sandra
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Another criminal like Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon cult has found religion. What next?
Hansen
Nov. 6th, 2012 at 11:27 am
Jesus won’t win the election but a clear message will be sent that Americans are sick and tired of candidates that do not stand for what the American people stand for and believe in. If you went to a restaurant and all they were offering was inferior food that you didn’t want would you stay there and pick from the two least worst ones or move on to somewhere else to get better food. If we would do this with something as daily as food, why would we not do this for something as critical as who runs our nation? We get what we settle for, and rightfully deserve it.
evette
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 5:36 pm
We all knew these guys were religious nuts! However if it actually meant that people who were voting just so Romney could help push the Republican agenda regarding women’s rights will now abstain. Well then I say I hope they have a jolly old time of it. It is within their rights after all. And personally I like anything that costs Mitt Romney votes and and keeps Obama in office-Don’t you?
PeedroPaula
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Personally, I think they should write in Jesus for EVERY office because it’s just as important (if not more so) to have a Democrat majority in the House and Senate.
Mark
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 5:48 pm
The hilarious part is, if Jesus DID win, you can bet that they would be calling him socialist before the week was out!
UncaJoe
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 6:06 pm
~ Bobby Bradock
roy batty
Nov. 6th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
1. Jesus did not have long hair. That was imagery invented by renaissance artists to portray Jesus with feminine aka “sensitve & caring” features. The best estimate is that since the bible mentions that his disciples “did not recognise him” at times and he “blended into the crowd” at others he looked pretty much like the other semetic peoples of the day. The bible teaches that it is a shame for a man to have long hair.
2. Jesus was not a Jew as we know them today. He was a baptist in that he was baptised by John the Baptist. Paul makes it clear that “he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but rather who is one inwardly”.
So no, if a long haired Jesus returned to say accept everyone even those who deny the father, I would not accept him, as the word teaches us that he would be anti-christ.
Sadly, the Mormon religion is also anti-christ and accursed. As the New Testament teaches. “Though we OR AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN come preaching any other gospel than that which you have recieved, let them be accursed.” Maroni & J. Smith fit this description.
I would write in Jesus but instead I simply wont be voting at all. Choosing the lesser of 2 evils is still choosing evil.
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 6th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Is that why Jews have long hair and beards?
Jesus was a jew. Jews were baptized by rabbis and others. That was common practice for the Jewish people well before Jesus going back a long time. If there was a jesus, he would strike most every Baptist with lightning today. At least the southern ones
The Mormons also teach redemption through jesus.
Lynne
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Oh of course they would! Did you ever see Mad Magazine’s “The Bush Campaign, If He Was Running Against Jesus”? www2.warnerbros.com/madma...
mjh
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Well, who didn’t see this coming . . .
No matter how much rehab Fox and Franklin Graham tried to give it, Mittens’ Mormonism was going to be a stumbling block to the hard right evangelicals, ’cause they don’t accept substitutions . . .
.
ibwilliamsi
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 6:44 pm
They tried to make Mitt go to rehab, he said “No, no no!”
nomad
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 6:33 pm
I guess I can live with this. As long as it isn’t the Anti-Christian Republicans.. go for it.
TigerLily
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 6:42 pm
I told you. It’s against the Christian religion to follow false prophets. And if anyone is a false blatant prophet its the Romney money machine and his brothers/sisters in his Mormom church. The main reason a Christian would not, should not, or could not ever vote for nor support or follow a Mormon is because Mormons believe that when Christians speak in tongues its the devil speaking. OMG..THAT in and of itself is the one and only reason Romney is and will LOSE TO CHRISTIANS. Romney is an anti christ of sorts. You can see the devil shine in his eyes. He sold his soul a long long time ago.
ibwilliamsi
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Jesus loves you, this I know.
For your preacher tells you so.
Don’t you vote for that heathen.
Just you write “Jesus” in.
Thomas Bishop
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Mormonism teaches there is no salvation outside the Mormon Church and no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. Perhaps the second time around, the shock has worn off, and evangelical Christians are willing to embrace a candidate whose beliefs challenge the fundamental doctrine of their Christian faith.
Or maybe not.
Let’s break it down: Evangelicals are mostly Biblical fundamentalists. That’s the real issue here. They take a literalist view of the Bible and see Mormons as heretics, who follow a false prophet and believe in a different holy book. That doesn’t set well with faithful Christians who believe the Bible is the Word of God.
Some Mormon beliefs just diverge dramatically from core Christian doctrine in the eyes of evangelicals – especially concerning the fundamental doctrine of salvation, which Christians understand to come through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And so, most evangelicals see Mormonism as an entirely different religion, a non-Christian one, and one that angers them by claiming Christianity. And evangelicals, or at least the ones I know, just aren’t much interested in voting for a non-Christian to be president.
Sansa
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Go right ahead, wingnuts, by all means! This is hilarious.
singhx
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 7:04 pm
I don’t get it…
If we are all “god’s children”, we are all equal in the eyes of god and god loves everyone the same, then what is with this jesus is god’s “favorite” routine?
How can favoritism exist in the eyes of god if all are equally loved? Where do people get off, seeing as we are all “god’s children”, getting to “vote” on god’s behalf and “picking” a favorite for the all mighty?
Writing in “Jesus for President”…bless their little hearts.
ibwilliamsi
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Remember when your mom told you that she didn’t love any of her children more or less than the others? She was lying.
Sandra
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 7:19 pm
I’m biracial and have been trying to figure that out for ages and still have no answer to these people’s bigotry, racism, intolerance and hate for anyone and everyone who do not adhere to their belief system. I wonder what God think of these pseudo christians, they do not follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, so they can’t really call themselves true Christians. Pot Kettle syndrome.
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Every bigot aught to be forced to read the book DNA USA. Every single one of us came out of Africa in the beginning. And no, not from one mother.
Good post Sandra
Johnee
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 9:06 pm
We are all Africans under the skin. Our only differences come from superficial environmental adaptions – like body size, shape, and melanin content in the skin. “Race” is a construct.
However to my understanding, there is an ancestral African woman that we can all trace our DNA lineage back to; they call her mitochondrial Eve.
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 9:38 pm
The one mother is not true at all.
Europeans can be traced back to 7 mothers from various areas, American Indians 4, I havent gotten through the book yet but the african heritage is very faint. In the US the upper eastern Americans have most pure “unmixed” blood(european). Of the American Indians, the Ojibway have more european anscestry then Indian.
The DNA study is so good that they can tell you what part of your body a certain racial dna is controlling. The single mother thing we all heard about for years is long been proven wrong
Check out Bryan Sykes books, good stuff on DNA and ancestry
A Walkaway
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 7:19 pm
I’ve got to agree with Shiva about the “One Mother”, although I’ve not read the book. The “One Mother” (aka the Eve hypothesis) is dated and based on some assumptions and ideas that didn’t bear out.
We now know that most of us have at least some H. sapiens neandertal ancestors, and they are a completely different lineage from H. sapiens sapiens (and much older). The genetic code (which has been successfully extracted and analyzed) is quite different from “modern humans”. The humankind ancestral tree is a lot more complex than the textbooks say and indeed, may look more like some sort of convoluted strangler fig (with multiple rootstocks).
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 8:11 pm
For the one mother to be true it would assume we can trace DNA back quite a few million years. It has been at least 6 million since we left the same ancestor we shared with chimps and gorillas.
Worse 1 mother assumes the earth is around 6000 years old. Genetically that would be a breeze to prove but thats not how its coming out. There are far more “Eves” than one.
You should read the book, it traces Indian DNA in the America’s. People would be shocked to find out where Jewish blood is found just for example
A Walkaway
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Not among Native Americans, that’s for sure.
Africans, many Europeans, even (I think) in areas of Asia… different story – I know of a couple, maybe three or four African tribes that turned out to have Jewish Ancestry. There’s a pretty good video out about it, where a researcher did a four-field project and provided strong evidence that one tribe was really Jewish (which is what they’d been saying all along).
Oh, and the Eve hypothesis puts that woman back several tens of thousands of years… like (as I remember) 140,000 years. I think it’s different than the “One Mother” thing, as it came from paleoanthropology/biological anthropology and was based on what was best knowledge at the time.
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 10:39 pm
The book addresses the Indian – Jewish connection, but I would have to re-read it. I dont think that connection is really there. I know they are not the lost tribes of Israel. However the Jewish people have been purged out of every country they moved to. The only people in history that welcomed them were the muslims in the Ottoman empire and the US.
The Africans DNA is widespread starting with the migrations out of Africa into Europe, then later the slave trade. A tremendous amount of Africans(over 11 million) were shipped to Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica and Mexico. In fact only around 500,000 Africans were brought here, and millions went to Brazil, the English and French territories(south America, South of Mexico)
There were a large number of Africans involved in Trajen’s conquering of Britian. This is well documented
goodshotgreen
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Was Jesus born in America? I need to see his birth certificate.
lm945
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Jesus Christ was not born in this country.
And I’m fairly certain the Bible is not at an acceptable substitute for a birth certificate.
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Nor is long hair and a beard
Churchlady
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 11:05 pm
I’m not surprised – most of us in the progressive Protestant denominations KNEW the true believers, the Dominionists without serious money or power, would never vote for this cult follower.
But please take note: while I have NO idea how anyone is votine, Evangelicals such as Jim Wallce, founder and leders of “Sojourners”, and those who are in Evangelicals for Human Rights and the others working on environmental issues – they are likely to vote for Obama. The evangelical woman I mentioned in another post ran for AL assembly as a Dem. And lost, but she did run. And she’s white.
Historically, looking back to today, historians will bill this era the same way we looked at the Reformation, the Great Schism, and other movements – it’s the “great shaking out” of those who follow the social gospel of Jesus’ own teachings about justice – and those who roll their own to justify their own power and riches. We have no idea who will win this division, but the complexities of alliances are beyond knee jerk simplification.
Evangelicals pursuing justice are huge in numbers. They get almost NO attention unless they’re kicked out of denominations or organizations. But they are significant numbers. They and all the mainline and progressive Protestants, Catholics, Jews are equal in number to ultra conservatives – and also get no notice unless something really huge occurs such as Nuns on the Bus. Protestants are everywhere leading every movement. And they are keeping on keeping on as the heirs to the abolitionists, to the suffragists, to the labor organizers, to the civil rights movement, to the anti-war faithful. They have been there for every issue that changed America and will continue to be present in the future. And they won’t stop just because the rightwing nutjobs are more visible.
singhx
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 7:42 am
Thank you Churchlady for bringing up the facts; Rev Wallace, Rev Gaddy, Rev Sharpton (just to name a few),plus all the folks over at Talk2Action.org have been fighting the good fight for a long time.
“T2A” get little or no recognition…they’ve been elbowed-out, steeple-jacked, shunned, out-moneyed, just like the Nuns on the Bus.
Everyone forgets that they are the vanguard who have done most of the investigative work exposing the radical fundamentalist amongst Protestants–they exposed Sara Palin’s “witch doctor” Jon Haggee’s insanity, Haggard lover etc. They did all that work plus, expos on a whole toilet bowl of these turds…and still do everyday.
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 1st, 2012 at 11:28 pm
OMG Billy Graham is going to burn in hell now?
Sammy
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 12:44 am
Internet evangelist?
What, he can’t get a regular gig?
Deborah_
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 4:30 am
This preacher sounds like the scribes that Jesus warned people about. I believe in God, and I know that God gave me a mind to use intelligently. I can see that our President Obama cares about all of us. He loves this country. He is also a Christian. Belief is individual, and sacred. I will not let the pseudo religious right use my belief to try to get what they want. To me that is sacrilegious. I am voting for President Obama, and I’m pretty sure Jesus is saying “Thank God”.
Tina
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 6:14 am
If I only had a choice between Jesus and Mitt,my vote would definitely go to Jesus.But only if it was the Jesus of my childhood and not the gay hating,poor hating,bigoted,corporations are people loving one the GOP created. I already voted for President Obama for a second term and that’s the closest thing to a vote for Jesus that I can do.And gladly at that.
A Walkaway
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 7:06 pm
The GOP didn’t create that Jesus. That Jesus has been in most of the churches almost to when He was walking this earth. The Republican party was steeplejacked years ago by the people from those churches, and only now are you really seeing their Jesus.
That’s the Jesus of “Get a Job”, “Others have it worse than you!”, and so on – which is what is hammered at the poor all the time (Evangelicals are equally guilty in this). I’ve had to live with that Jesus for the past 35 years – both of us have. It’s not a nice experience and we’re not the only ones who wish we could get away from that “Jesus”.
The Jesus of the Loving God… that Jesus is almost like a dream… someone unreal – someone who actually cares and tries to do something about hardship and misery… the only place you’ll encounter that Jesus is in dreams anymore. You MIGHT see a reflection of Him in the face of a hard-left liberal, or a pagan, or an atheist – the people hated and despised by the “Good Christians” but who are more ethical and moral. You may even see a hint of His smile in the face of a poor person, or a glimmer of his eyes in the eyes of an innocent (and not programmed by Churches) child.
“Good Christians” – the only Jesus you see there is looking back at you (if you’re not rich, powerful, or beautiful) with critical perfectionist disgust (if not hate).
A Walkaway
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Correction – “That Jesus has been in most of the churches almost to when He was walking this earth.”
…to when the REAL Jesus was walking this earth.
D. W. Skinner
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 6:30 am
The polls are misleading. The numbers aren’t there for Romney in any capacity. Even Vegas knows that. Romney/Ryan have alienated women, gays, non-christians, the lower and middle classes, senior citizens, people of color and a wide percentage of their own Republicans. Libertarians will not vote for him and Evangelicals are writing in the name of “Jesus’ on the ballot rather than vote for a Mormon. Soooo…who’s left to walk in the booth and pull a lever next to this man’s name? Lay your money on a democratic sweep. Romney has essentially dismantled what was left of the Republican party.
Jonathan
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 10:42 am
Jesus would vote for Obama, so why would people want to write in Jesus?
He isn’t even running, and last time I checked he was non-partisan. He wouldn’t even argue against Roman occupation of Judea. What Jesus did sound off on were the hypocrites who used their position to circumvent their obligations to their fellow man and to judge others as less than themselves according to some arbitrary litmus test. Gee I wonder which political party does that? HMMM?
People who try to insert their own beliefs, not backed by scripture on others and use fear and doubt to drive their voting decisions are blasphemous heritics. None, not one of them should be leading a congregation, and their tax exempt status should be revoked.
Maranon
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 6:02 pm
all this heresy!
where is Torquemada when we need him?
oliver
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 7:49 pm
“Christians” who are lazy and refuse to do their work, just say “leave it to th’ Lawd” (my attempt at Southern drawl). Jesus is not an “escape”, “excuse”, or whatnot. I am a Christian and this behaviour is insulting to those of us who actually care about Jesus’ teachings & commands. As Jesus Himself said, “there are many who call me ‘Lord’ but they are not my true followers”. Jesus cannot – probably would refuse to – “lead” this mess we created. Voters have to do the research and make the HUMAN choice among those who possibly “God” provided. In my opinion, it is insulting to ask a person to do a job (lead a nation) which is yours to do. Get of yer arses, folks. Stop being lazy and do YOUR job – leaving it to “God” is just plain rude and stupid. This is our system we created (not Jesus) so do the best with what you got or change it. It’s not God’s job – it’s ours.
— from a Christian who actually does have “fear of the Lord” (wisdom).
ALISON SKYS
Nov. 2nd, 2012 at 11:22 pm
the problem with romney i can see is he is not a christian and that he is a socialist for the rich and the monopoly’s the big corporations.
krp
Nov. 4th, 2012 at 7:19 am
This psycho teller and his ignorant and uneducated listeners is a traitor to the Constitution.
Write in votes are NOT counted because they are unconstitutional
“Jesus” is NOT a natural born citizen and it therefore is ineligible.
Doug Forbes
Nov. 8th, 2012 at 9:28 am
Congratulations. You have succeeded in getting a 2nd term for Barack Obama. Despite the fact that Obama got 10 million fewer votes last Tuesday than he did in 2008, he still won because Romney got 2.5 million fewer votes than McCain did in 2008. I think you people can take the credit for that along with everything that comes in a second Obama term. Here are some of those things.
1. Continuation of “partial birth abortion”. Although a Romney win would not have overturned Roe v Wade, it might well have ended the small percentage of so-called “abortions” that involve live babies who are killed while they have one inch of their head still in their mothers birth canal and thus are technically (legally) unborn.
2. Continued attacks on religious run businesses such as not-for-profit hospitals in order to force them to violate their beliefs regarding contraception.
3. Continued support from the top down for gay marriage.
Shiva (Moderator)
Nov. 8th, 2012 at 10:05 am
The religious run businesses were opted out of the birth control thing. Thats the one thing they never told you because they had an agenda against Obama. 95% of the people polled such as catholics were or had used birth control. So even the church in its own stupidity doesnt care about its own people. That whole thing was a fake crisis.
Gay marriage is a peoples right. This country is not run by religious opinion but by the rights of the people. Thank goodness we are not run by the religious right
Americans must have the right of choice for themselves. Not the right of employers or religions to make it for them. If a person wants an abortion it is their right.