Pro-Trump Pastor Backtracks on Claim That Bernie Sanders ‘Gotta Meet Jesus’

Rev. Mark Burns Image by Getty Images

By Andrew Silow-Carroll July 2, 2016

(JTA) — An African-American pastor who warmed up the crowd at a rally for Donald Trump by urging the religious conversion of Bernie Sanders said he hadn’t meant to insult the “Jewish faith.”

Mark Burns, the president of the Christian NOW Television Network and one of Trump’s few public supporters in the black community, spoke in March at a campaign event in Hickory, North Carolina. In discussing Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent and the first Jewish candidate to win a major party nominating contest, Burns said, “And Bernie Sanders, who doesn’t believe in God, how in the world are we gonna let Bernie, I mean, really!” he said.

“Listen, Bernie gotta get saved,” said Burns, according to the Associated Press. “He gotta meet Jesus, I don’t know. He gotta, he gotta have a comin’ to Jesus meeting.”

In an interview with The Washington Post in January, Sanders said he believes in God, but is not actively involved in organized religion.

This week, in , Burns described criticism of his comments about Sanders as a “wake-up call.”

“To be honest that was the first time I really became conscious that the media was listening to what I said,” said Burns, who speaks frequently at rallies for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and regularly promotes the candidate on his Twitter page.

@pastormarkburns @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/rSUEkqLDyK

— JR (@afcchampsagain) July 1, 2016

He added that hadn’t intended to criticize Judaism and that his remarks “had nothing to do with [Sanders’] faith or religion or conversion to Christianity.”

The A.P. reports that Trump, when asked at a news conference in March about Burns’ remarks, said he was unaware of what Burns had said about Sanders.

“I didn’t hear this. When did he say this?” Trump told reporters. “I didn’t hear anything about it. … Let me find out about it.”

Burns, who has spoken at Trump events in each of the past three months, said he never heard anything about the comment from the campaign.

Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor in chief of the New York Jewish Week and senior editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He previously served as JTA’s editor in chief and as editor in chief and CEO of the New Jersey Jewish News.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO