When the Bible Is a Political Weapon: Selective Scripture

Notice how it's somehow the government's job to legislate a few Bible verses on human sexuality over our entire country, but it's suddenly “not the government’s job” when it comes to the 2,500+ Bible verses calling for a generous use of wealth that prioritizes the poor.

That’s the paradox at the heart of American Christian nationalism: a faith movement that claims divine authority while conveniently ignoring most of what its own sacred text commands. The same politicians who thunder about “biblical values” when banning books or attacking LGBTQ+ rights go strangely silent when the conversation turns to hunger, housing, or healthcare. The prophets who cry out about sin in the bedroom have nothing to say about sin in the boardroom.

The Gospel of Control

For this new brand of politics, Christianity has become less about compassion and more about control. It’s a gospel of punishment — one obsessed with regulating other people’s identities, families, and private lives. The moral framework is not love, mercy, or forgiveness, but order and hierarchy.

Yet Jesus spoke most often about wealth, greed, and injustice. He overturned the tables of the money changers. He told a rich man to give away everything he owned. He said it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the wealthy to enter heaven.

Those passages don’t make it into campaign speeches. They don’t appear on protest signs outside libraries or clinics. Because if they did — if they were taken seriously — they would demand a complete rethinking of our economic system, our priorities, and our politics.

When Faith Becomes a Cover Story

The truth is, this selective “biblical morality” is not about faith at all. It’s about power.
It’s about using the language of religion to justify policies that hurt the very people Jesus spent his life defending — the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the foreigner.

If the same energy that went into policing sexuality were directed toward feeding children, ending medical bankruptcy, or guaranteeing housing, we’d be living in a country that actually reflected the Sermon on the Mount. But that would require compassion, not control — and compassion doesn’t win elections in the politics of fear.

What Kind of Nation Do We Want to Be?

So the question isn’t whether America is a “Christian nation.” The real question is which version of Christianity we’re talking about.

The one that builds walls, bans books, and shames people into silence?
Or the one that heals the sick, welcomes the outcast, and commands us to love our neighbors — without footnotes or exceptions?

Until we stop cherry-picking Scripture to sanctify cruelty, “biblical values” will remain a hollow slogan — a sacred costume worn by people who worship power far more than God.

AI Generated Image