Pastor at Trump Rally Says Bernie Needs To ‘Meet Jesus’

Image by Getty Images
A pastor speaking at a Donald Trump rally called Monday for Bernie Sanders to “meet Jesus” and be saved.
“Bernie Sanders, who doesn’t believe in God… Listen, Bernie got to get saved. He got to meet Jesus, he got to have a ‘coming to Jesus’ meeting,” televangelist Mark Burns said at the North Carolina gathering for the frontrunner GOP candidate.
Burns, who is black, also dismissed claims that Trump is racist and said Hillary Clinton “needs to go to jail” for lying.
Bernie Sanders describes himself as a “secular Jew,” but has mostly kept religion out of his campaign. Last month, when asked about his faith at a town hall meeting, he spoke fondly of his roots.
“Obviously, being Jewish is very, very important to me,” Sanders said. “I am very proud of my heritage.”
Trump’s daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism upon marrying Jewish real estate magnate Jared Kushner.
After being criticized for taking a neutral stance on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Trump invoked his Jewish offspring.
“I have tremendous love for Israel. I happen to have a son-in-law and a daughter that are Jewish, OK? And two grandchildren that are Jewish,” he said.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.