Trump backs pastor who said Sanders needs to ‘meet Jesus’

Days after a pastor sparked a mini-firestorm by calling on Bernie Sanders to find Jesus while speaking at a Donald Trump rally, Trump shows he has no plans of distancing himself from the televangelist.

Taking to Twitter, Trump thanks Mark Burns and tells him he was great the night before.

.@pastormarkburns You were great last night and we all very much appreciate it! Thank you!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2016

On Saturday, Burns said Sanders, who as a Jew is the only non-Christian in serious contention for the presidency, couldn’t lead the country because of his atheism.

“Listen, Bernie gotta get saved. He gotta meet Jesus. He gotta have a comin’ to Jesus meeting,” Burns said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=329&v=ocHrJI6kEiY

The call drew criticism from Jews and interfaith groups, who pointed out that there is not supposed to be a religious test for office in the US.

Burns later said he was not trying to criticize Sanders’s Judaism, but his lack of faith in general.

“Obviously, if he was ever elected president he would be the first non-Christian, and that’s not an issue that he is not a Christian, so to speak, so this is not anything bad about the Jewish people,” Burns said, according to CNN.