Jesus and Bernie Sanders

According to the journal article, " The Dissonance of “Civil” Religion in Religious-Political Memetic Discourse During the 2016 Presidential Elections", this meme is aimed at a specific group of Christian voters—i.e., Christian Liberals or Progressives—and seeks to draw on their theological convictions to established political credibility for a specific candidate, Bernie Sanders. The meme reads, “Voting for the socialist Jew who condemns bankers is literally the Christian thing to do.” This phrase refers to Jesus, who himself was a Jew and blatantly condemned manipulative bankers in the Bible. Jesus is labeled a socialist by some Progressive and Liberal Christians, who place emphasis on his care for the poor (Hird, 1908). This meme’s satirical text encourages Christian voters who view Jesus as the ultimate authority figure to recognize Bernie Sanders’s “similarities” and consider giving him their vote. This meme employs a distinctive theological narrative from the Christian tradition as a way to validate specific candidates and establish their credibility with the religious electorate. Here they attempt to appeal to religious voters by suggesting certain candidates are divinely-approved options. The Politicization of Religion strategy in these memes links religious beliefs and affiliations to certain political actions and entities, suggesting to readers that some choices should be seen as religiously sanctioned and mandated.