Rubio’s New Biblical Theory Justifies a “Head for an Eye” Iran War Escalation

The administration bills the US as a Christian nation. Let’s explore the idea.

Head for an Eye Is US Official Policy

MARCO RUBIO: Iran’s policy is an eye for an eye. The president’s policy is a head for an eye. Honestly. That’s what it’s going to be. They’re going to pay a very heavy price. They are going to suffer more.

An Eye for an Eye

Exodus 21:23–25
23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Leviticus 24:19–20
19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him;
20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.

Deuteronomy 19:21
And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Law of Retaliation

“Eye for an eye” (lex talionis, or the law of retaliation) was primarily about proportional, limited justice administered by courts—not personal vengeance or literal maiming.

The principle of “eye for an eye, tooth for tooth” (found in Exodus 21:23–25, Leviticus 24:19–20, and Deuteronomy 19:21) established that:

• Punishment or compensation must match the severity of the harm.
• It set a ceiling on retaliation: you could not take more than what was taken (no “life for an eye,” no wiping out a whole family for one injury).
• It was a judicial guideline for judges and authorities, not a license for individuals to exact revenge. The texts place it in the context of court cases and legal proceedings.

It shifted justice from private, emotional vengeance toward regulated, measured outcomes under communal or state authority.

MAGA Super-Christians

I am not a bible-thumping religious person to say the least.

But Trump, Rubio, and Hegseth have all set themselves up as super-Christians.

Yet, we now have an official policy of revenge that says a head for an eye.

With that, let’s look at the New Testament.

Matthew 5:38–39

38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Trump Feuds with The Pope

The Man Who Replaced Jesus

At some point in the last week, Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ. On Easter. On his own social media platform. And then, when people quite reasonably lost their minds about it, he deleted it and claimed it was actually meant to show him as a doctor. With a Red Cross connection. Which he supports.

Right? Of course he doesn’t.

The President of the United States cannot, apparently, tell the difference between himself dressed as the Son of God and himself dressed as a GP.

The backlash was not, as Trump’s people might hope, confined to the usual liberal hand-wringers. His own base turned on him. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has spent years defending behaviour that would get anyone else sectioned, posted that she “completely condemns” the image and is “praying against it.”

When you’ve lost Marjorie Taylor Greene on a religious symbolism question, you have genuinely achieved something remarkable.

What makes this more than just another Friday in American politics is the context. The image went up in the same period Trump was publicly attacking Pope Leo, calling him illegitimate and going after the Catholic Church with the kind of fury normally reserved for trade partners and federal judges.

Republicans privately warned this would cost him Catholic votes. He posted the Jesus image anyway.

Last year, when Pope Francis died, Trump posted an AI image of himself as the Pope. Now he’s Jesus. One wonders, with some genuine curiosity, what comes next.

On April 13, 2026 CNN reported Trump Is Feuding with a Pope — Again.

Late Sunday, Trump lashed out at Pope Leo’s criticisms of the Iran war in a lengthy social media post, which:

• Called the pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
• Claimed Leo was only elected pope “because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”
• Said Leo should “get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”
• Said Leo was hurting the Catholic Church.

A member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, Bishop Robert Barron, called the post “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful” and said “the President owes the Pope an apology.”

Trump then took things to a whole new level by posting an apparently AI-generated fake image depicting himself as a Christ-like figure healing a sick person.

It’s an image that many critics, including some who supported Trump, like the Knights Templar International, labeled blasphemous. Trump later deleted the post and on Monday claimed he thought it depicted him as a doctor, which it did not. (“I don’t know too many doctors that have glowing hands,” Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest, quipped to CNN.”)

Pentagon Holds Good Friday Service Just for Protestants

On April 3, I noted Pentagon Holds Good Friday Service Just for Protestants, Catholics Excluded

Protestants Only Good Friday Service

The Huffington Post has details on a Good Friday Service Just for Protestants

The Pentagon has invited more than 3,500 employees to attend a Good Friday service at its in-house chapel. Except it’s only for Protestants, not Catholics.

“Just a friendly reminder: There will be a Protestant Service (No Catholic Mass) for Good Friday today at the Pentagon Chapel,” reads a Friday email sent by Air Force leadership, a copy of which was shared by an employee.

“I guess so the Catholics know their kind ain’t welcome,” said this employee, who requested anonymity to speak about internal communications. “It’s so ridiculous.”

A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed it is not hosting another, separate religious service for Catholic employees.

“The Protestant service is the only service scheduled in the Pentagon chapel today,” they said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a far-right evangelical Christian, has tried to infuse his religious views into Pentagon activities.

Last May, he brought his Tennessee pastor and controversial spiritual advisor Brooks Potteiger to the Pentagon to lead a prayer service, during which he hailed President Donald Trump as a divinely appointed leader. Hegseth said at the time he wanted to make his prayer service a monthly tradition.

Forget About Separation of Church and State

From the White House Faith Office to a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias,” Christian Nationalism isn’t fringe anymore, it’s federal policy. We break down the players, the playbook, and what happens when the government decides whose God counts.

Trump

“They say separation between church and state, they told me. I said, all right, let’s forget about that for one time.”

Please note that freedom of religion also includes freedom from religion.

Trump and Hegseth want to promote state religion, no doubt incorporating the new religious theory of a head for an eye.

Some of Us Want to Mind Our Own Business

Thessalonians 4:11–12
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

Peter 4:15
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

Thessalonians 3:11–12
11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

These passages emphasize living quietly, focusing on one’s own responsibilities, avoiding meddling or busybodiness, and not comparing one’s path to others’.

Modern translations often render the key ideas more directly as “mind your own business”.

A Time for Peace, I Swear It’s Not Too Late

Why Is the Strait Blocked?

Because Trump is too busy minding Israel’s business instead of US business.

The strait was open until Trump closed it.

Trump tore up Obama’s deal that Trump’s own secretary of defense and Chair of the Joint Chief of Staff testified under oath in Congress that Iran was honoring.

Trump worked out a MOU that would open the strait. But Trump decided he did not like that either.

Note that Trump Signs a Nuclear Deal with Saudi, Demands Huge Changes One Day Later

Oops. Trump made a stupid deal. So now he won’t honor it.

Cheese Was a “Key Achievement” of Trump’s USMCA Trade Agreement

Please recall my March 9, 2025 post Cheese Was a “Key Achievement” of Trump’s USMCA Trade Agreement

Trump is complaining about Canada’s cheese tariffs. In 2018, he was bragging about cheese.

Trump tore up his own USMCA deal. He tore up his own deal with Saudi Arabia. He tore up the MOU his team negotiated.

He’s not exactly happy with his own deals is he?

And now to get his way by force, Rubio says “The president’s policy is a head for an eye.”

Trump’s Morality

Please recall Trump says his own morality is the only check on his power.

For discussion, please see We Are Now Bearing the Poisoned Fruit of Trump’s Self-Proclaimed Morality

“I have the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States.”

Here’s what to expect as a result: Trump Is About to Suffer through an Important Lesson in War-Related Tail Risk