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• Christian leaders have dismissed David Seymour’s joke that Jesus might vote Act as “beyond his expertise”.
• They emphasised Jesus' focus on community and caring for the marginalised over politics.
• Seymour’s comments during Act’s local government candidates announcement followed his earlier run-in with many church leaders over Act’s Treaty Principles Bill.

David Seymour’s tongue-in-cheek claim that Jesus “very well might” vote Act has been laughed off by Christian leaders, with one quipping that it’s as credible as legal advice from a nail technician.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Seymour joked Jesus would get the party’s endorsement were he to make a tilt for the mayoralty in Wellington or Auckland.

The remark came as he announced Act’s plan to field local government candidates focused on reducing wasteful spending, and confirmed the party would not be endorsing candidates in Māori wards or supporting any mayoral bids.

“If Jesus comes back and says I want to stand for Auckland [or] for mayor of Wellington, we might say ‘buddy, with that hair and beard, how could we not endorse you?’” he told reporters, before hastily adding that he was joking.

Asked whether he thought Jesus would endorse Act, Seymour said he “very well might”, adding that Jesus believes each person has inherent dignity and thus “the underlying teachings of Jesus and the Act Party overlap”.

But Christian leaders the Herald spoke to laughed off the suggestion Jesus would be an Act supporter.

Waiora Te Moni (Ngāti Haka, Ngāti Hine, Waitaha, Tapuika), an Anglican reverend and kaiako at faith-based Māori language school Te Wānanga Ihorangi.

Waiora Te Moni (Ngāti Haka, Ngāti Hine, Waitaha, Tapuika), an Anglican reverend and kaiako at faith-based Māori language school Te Wānanga Ihorangi, says Seymour is “commenting on things that are probably beyond his expertise and experience”.

“David is not a theologian, he’s a politician,” she said. “In the same way that I wouldn’t go to my nail technician for legal advice, he’s outside of his expertise in making the statement in the first place – and I think he knows that.

“ There are lots of times and lots of different ways that political and religious leaders tried to get Jesus to say what camp he would land in, and he avoided it his whole life. So I don’t know if Jesus would even vote.”

Reverend Frank Ritchie.

Rev Frank Ritchie, a ��һ�ǿ�����talk ZB broadcaster and media chaplain who leads Wesleyan Methodist church Commoners in Hamilton, says it’s clear Seymour was simply “flicking off a light-hearted question”.

But he agrees Jesus probably wouldn’t take too much interest in participating in worldly politics.

“I think Jesus would be taking more notice of the homeless, he’d be out there in communities meeting people, healing people – that’s where he’d be investing his time and energy,” he said.

“Is that to say that Jesus doesn’t care about politics? No, I think Jesus very much cares about politics.

“But it’s in a different way to the way that we’re invested in politics, where we generally pick our side and then have a go at the other side, and it becomes a battle of good versus evil – and we forget about the people who live right next door to us.”

Archbishop Justin Duckworth.

That’s a sentiment echoed by Archbishop Justin Duckworth, Primate of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia.

“I guess it’s not really about whether Jesus, the God of the whole universe, would give his allegiance to Act or indeed any political party – or leader, for that matter,” he said.

“But rather (it’s) whether we are giving our allegiance to Jesus, the one whose manifesto is that ‘the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor, recovery of sight for the blind, and liberty for the oppressed’,” he said, quoting Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Luke.

Hana Seddon (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pūkenga), mission leader at the Salvation Army Rotorua. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

Hana Seddon (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pūkenga), mission leader at the Salvation Army Rotorua, says while she couldn’t comment on whether Jesus would vote for Act, “he would definitely vote for action”.

“That means go and have a look at what is needed in your community and get busy… Jesus is always asking all of us to take responsibility to get involved in what’s happening in our own community. He is always about connection and about looking after one another.”

Seddon says in the same way Seymour chuckled when he was asked whether Jesus would vote Act, Jesus chuckles watching “how different political parties make attempts to order things on the earth”.

“But at other times I’m sure he cries because his way is love, his way is grace, his way is generosity; his way is leaving behind 99 sheep to go and find the one lost sheep…

“We need people who can think bigger and broader, who can operate from a place of love and grace and generosity; leaders who are willing to make sacrifices and suffer for the sake of others, giving their lives for the greater good.”

Seymour’s comments on Tuesday aren’t the first time he’s made reckons about how his policies align with Christian thought.

Last year, his Treaty Principles Bill – a controversial piece of legislation seeking to change how Te Tiriti o Waitangi is interpreted – drew major backlash from church leaders, more than 400 of whom signed an open letter condemning it.

At the time, Seymour responded by claiming that their commitment to the current interpretation went against imago dei (in the image of God), the Christian idea that all people are made in God’s likeness and therefore have inherent value.

Seymour again appealed to imago dei on Tuesday, saying Jesus “may very well support Act” given the alignment of their belief in treating people “with universal human rights”.

Dr Andrew Picard, who teaches in public and political theology at Hoani Tapu (St John’s Theological College) in Auckland. Photo / supplied

But Dr Andrew Picard, who teaches in public and political theology at Hoani Tapu (St John’s Theological College) in Auckland, says Seymour’s characterisation of Jesus “[going] around speaking an apolitical message about the universal equal rights of all people” isn’t the full picture.

“This might have been provocative to the hierarchies of the Roman empire, but it was too innocuous to get you killed,” he explained.

“In the context of the Roman occupation of his homeland, Jesus instead spoke about good news for the poor, liberation for the oppressed, release for captives, and God’s preferential concern for the poor and marginalised. He not only spoke it, he embodied it.

“Jesus chose to eat with the poor and the marginalised, and he understood these meals to be the manifestation of God’s desire for social and political transformation. Jesus wasn’t killed for suggesting equal human rights – he was killed for who he ate with.”

Te Moni, who made a submission opposing Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill, says the invocation of imago dei is an example of Seymour’s skill as a politician in “drawing on the things that meet his political ideas while avoiding the things that don’t”.

“ It’s just pick and mix – where you take one thing that works for you and ignore the other things that might directly contradict what you’re doing.”

Seddon, who also opposed the Treaty Principles Bill, said Seymour ’s reference to imago dei “starts to explain what Jesus is like”, but ignores that he is ultimately about outcomes – not just a standardised approach.

Thousands of hikoi protesters expressed their opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill on Parliament Grounds, Wellington, in November. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“If you look at the two thieves on the cross next to him, a standardised approach would mean they don’t get to go to heaven; but because Jesus is actually about outcomes, he wants to see everybody thriving, everybody whole, everybody included.

“He goes out of his way to try different approaches with different people. I would encourage David to go deeper into the story to see that Jesus’ approach to people takes into account their different circumstances, and he is willing to engage with them wherever they’re at.”

Matt Burrows is a journalist with XVOX Media Service. He writes occasional articles about religion and spirituality for the Herald.