{"id":607811,"date":"2026-04-15T05:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T05:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/607811\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T05:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T05:30:14","slug":"was-trumps-so-called-jesus-image-blasphemy-a-religious-expert-explains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/607811\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Trump\u2019s so-called \u2018Jesus\u2019 image blasphemy? A religious expert explains"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, Donald Trump posted an AI image of himself dressed in white robes, placing a glowing hand over an ill or deceased man in a hospital bed, as if to heal or resurrect him. The image, posted on Truth Social, was widely taken<\/a> as him presenting himself as a Messianic Jesus figure.<\/p>\n

Sometime the next morning, he deleted the post. \u201cI thought it was me as a doctor,\u201d he explained to reporters, according to Time magazine<\/a>. Jesus? \u201cOnly the fake news could come up with that one.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the post was widely interpreted as blasphemous \u2013 including by<\/a> conservative Catholic group CatholicVote.org.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,\u201d declared Megan Basham<\/a>, a prominent conservative Protestant Christian writer, on X. \u201cBut he needs to take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very grateful to see how many conservative Christians immediately denounced the blasphemous Jesus\/Trump image,\u201d said pastor Doug Wilson<\/a>, who recently led a prayer service at the Pentagon and founded the network of churches War Secretary Pete Hegseth belongs to.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump has conservative Christian supporters. Many denounced \u2018the blasphemous Jesus\/Trump image\u2019.
\n Mike Stewart\/AAP<\/p>\n

What is blasphemy?<\/p>\n

Within the Christian tradition, blasphemy has historically been an unstable, shifting idea. But, simply put, it means speech, thought or action that shows contempt for \u2013 or mockery of \u2013 God and sacred matters.<\/p>\n

Judaism and Christianity\u2019s concept of blasphemy came from the injunction<\/a> in the Old Testament not to revile God. Within the Old Testament, it was treated<\/a> as a crime, punishable by death: \u201cOne who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New Testament expanded the concept to include the rejection of Jesus<\/a>. Eventually, cursing, reproaching, challenging, mocking, rejecting or denying Jesus became blasphemous. <\/p>\n

More particularly, posing as Jesus or asserting powers that belong only to him was considered blasphemous in medieval times. The \u201cChrists\u201d that emerged were treated harshly, as dangerous heretics<\/a>. This is where Trump\u2019s presentation of himself as Jesus would undoubtedly be considered blasphemous.<\/p>\n

Broadly, anything said or done that offended believers could be construed as blasphemous. Catholics at the time of the Reformation in the 16th century tended to brand those who offended them as heretics<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Protestants generally preferred the term blasphemy for anything they disliked or disagreed with. For example, 16th century theologian Martin Luther \u2013 a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation \u2013 condemned as blasphemous<\/a> not only Catholics, but also Jews and Muslims.<\/p>\n

Blasphemy as sin or crime<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a><\/p>\n

James Nayler.
\n Britannica<\/a><\/p>\n

From the 17th century onwards, blasphemy became not so much an offence against God as one against society. Within the unstable societies of early modern Europe, blasphemy was viewed as socially and politically subversive and prosecuted as such. The Quaker James Naylor<\/a> was imprisoned in 1656 for reenacting Jesus\u2019s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.<\/p>\n

Early in the 17th century, blasphemy crossed to the United States. Virginia\u2019s first law code<\/a> specified death for blaspheming the divine Trinity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite the first amendment to the US constitution, protecting free speech, blasphemy laws were regularly enacted<\/a>. The US Supreme Court didn\u2019t rule that laws against blasphemy infringed the right to free speech until after World War II. Several states still have blasphemy on their books.<\/p>\n

England\u2019s Blasphemy Act of 1697<\/a>, which criminalised the denial of the Holy Trinity, the truth of Christianity, or the divine authority of the Bible, carried over into the colonies of Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Blasphemy is no longer an offence<\/a> under Australian federal law, though laws governing it vary across the states: it\u2019s still in the criminal code of many of them. New Zealand\u2019s criminal code deals with \u201cblasphemous libel\u201d as part of \u201ccrimes against religion, morality and public welfare\u201d.<\/p>\n

Is there blasphemy in Islam?<\/p>\n

Within Islam, there is no exact equivalent to \u201cblasphemy\u201d. But the idea of the \u201cword of infidelity\u201d is analogous<\/a> to it. In practice, it amounts to mockery of God, the prophet, or the Islamic tradition generally.<\/p>\n

So, when Trump mockingly declared \u201cPraise be to Allah\u201d in a recent post<\/a>, he was guilty of blasphemy in Muslim eyes. Conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza compared it<\/a> to the Old Testament account of the prophet Elijah, who mocked the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. <\/p>\n

The Islamic advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations called it<\/a> \u201cdisturbing\u201d and \u201coffensive to Muslims\u201d.<\/p>\n

Laws against blasphemy are actively enforced<\/a> in many modern Islamic states.<\/p>\n

Does blasphemy matter?<\/p>\n

It is not blasphemous to speak or publish opinions that are hostile to Christianity, Judaism or Islam \u2013 or for that matter, any religion. What matters is not so much the substance of criticism as the manner in which it is made. <\/p>\n

We should only worry when criticism becomes a form of \u201creligious hate speech\u201d. The question we should ask is about intent. In a secular society, where we do identify ill intent, we may wish to think about \u201cblasphemy\u201d as a matter of public morality, not theology. <\/p>\n

So, what about Donald Trump\u2019s post? Does it matter?<\/p>\n

If we consider \u201cblasphemy\u201d to include the mocking of religion, there is little doubt that Trump\u2019s mockery of Islam is blasphemous. If we believe his deleted Truth Social post was intended to suggest he is Jesus \u2013 or in some sense divine \u2013 then Christians are entitled to consider him blasphemous. <\/p>\n

That said, from a secular perspective, it is more self-indulgent foolishness than hate speech \u2013 but nonetheless, extremely inappropriate for a US president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, Donald Trump posted an AI image of himself dressed in white robes, placing a glowing hand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-607811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}