Bush: Trump’s ‘Christianity between he and his creator’
Jeb Bush is not picking sides in the open feud between Donald Trump and Pope Francis over true Christian behavior.
“His Christianity is between he and his creator,” Bush said of his top rival for the presidency after a town-hall meeting in Columbia, S.C., according to The Blaze.
{mosads}Trump derided the pope earlier Thursday as “disgraceful,” after the spiritual leader suggested the GOP front-runner’s call for a wall separating Mexico from the U.S. is “not Christian.”
Bush gently disagreed with the Catholic figurehead’s assessment Thursday, arguing border security is essential for preventing illegal immigration.
“I support walls and fencing when appropriate,” the former Florida governor said. “We should have a strategy to secure our border.
“That is clear. That is not an un-Christian thing to do, to make sure that people don’t come across our border illegally. That’s a just thing to do.”
Bush, a Catholic, also argued that Francis’s role is best suited for guiding personal faith rather than American public policy.
“He’s my spiritual leader,” he said. “As I’ve said on matters of global warming, I think it’s OK to get my guidance as a Catholic from the pope, but certainly not economic policy or environmental policy. I respect the pope [and] his voice will be heard.”
Bush added that he disagrees with Trump’s remarks late Wednesday that he would remain “neutral” between Israel and Palestine, arguing that America must back the former over the latter.
“[That policy is] naïve and wrong,” he said during Thursday’s town hall. “We have to have Israel’s back. For security purposes, for consistency purposes, we can’t just say we’re going to be a neutral party. It just won’t work.”
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