Jesus makes another bid for president?

Photo by Wikipedia/Francisco Ribalta

Four years ago, there was the Jesus for President campaign, through which a progressive Christian urged other Christians to vote based on environmental and social justice issues, not abortion and homosexuality. This election season there is a very different “Vote for Jesus” effort being led by Internet evangelist Bill Keller, who five years ago lost his TV program for slamming Islam.

The Christian Post reports on Keller’s disgust for Romney and Obama:

Keller, who in the past has compared the choice between Romney and Obama as “flipping a coin where Satan is on both sides,” explained in an exclusive interview with The Christian Post on Friday that Christians can play a big part in the future of America by making a statement vote by writing in “Jesus” on their ballots, instead of choosing “the lesser of two evils.”

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“This is not about politics, it is about THE ETERNAL SOULS OF MEN! A true Christian will NEVER put politics above souls, so please watch for any so-called Christian leader who endorses and supports either President Obama or Mitt Romney, since they are nothing but ‘hirelings’ and NOT true men or women of God since they obviously don’t care about souls!” Keller expressed in a written statement on the Vote for Jesus website.

This is not the first time an evangelical has said Romney is not guided by God or that Obama is part of Satan’s plan (and Justin Bieber is too). But, beyond that, I get the feeling—a sneaking suspicion—that Keller doesn’t understand the role of the president of the United States.

Jesus is, indeed, a perennially popular write-in candidate. And this is not the first time that an individual or organization has encouraged voters to write-in Jesus rather than vote for a name on the ballot.