We have witnessed many misuses

We have witnessed many misuses of religion to advance political ends, but this is one of the most pathetic: “What would Jesus drive?” A fuel-efficient subcompact, of course. Preferably a Yugo. This is part of the left-wing attack on SUVs, which I guess we can understand (and condemn) as a political matter. But how Jesus enters into it is a mystery. The sad fact about this campaign, which will pay for television advertising in Iowa, North Carolina, Indiana and Missouri, is that it is backed by “mainstream” religious groups, like the National Council of Churches and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life. The rationale underlying this campaign is the totalitarian canard that the personal is the political: “Economic issues are moral issues. There really isn’t a decision in your life that isn’t a moral choice,” says the sponsor of the television campaign. Jesus himself, of course, dealt with the “personal is political” theory long ago, by taking precisely the opposite position: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s.” He never showed a lot of interest in gas mileage.

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