Stop virtue-signaling by holding the “middle” ground politically so that you can look more aligned to Jesus on race, immigration, and poverty issues, as though the differences between the two parties were greatest and most harmful here, or that Jesus would have lined up more with the Democratic Party even on these matters. This is a false equivalence. Come out from the political sphere in which you “have your cake and eat it too” and bear the abuse that Jesus bore.

On Feb. 16, famous pastor and popular Christian author Rick Warren issued an apology and retracted his post from five days earlier that had generated a firestorm of controversy. Warren admitted that he “wrote poorly” when he cited Jesus being crucified “in the middle” between two thieves in John 19:18 as meaning that “If you’re looking for the real Jesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.”

I apologize. I wrote poorly.
I don’t believe Jesus was a centrist. He stands far above it all. “My kingdom is not of this world…” Jn.18:36

Jesus demands our total allegiance as the center of our lives.

— Rick Warren (@RickWarren) February 16, 2025

With all due respect, Warren’s apology still does not appear to get it. Here is my response to Rev. Warren:

Thank you for your apology and for retracting the original post, even if it took five days to do so and only after an avalanche of criticism.

But the issue wasn’t just that you presented Jesus as “in the middle” between two political parties when in fact “he stands far above it all.”

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