The title poses an obviously fanciful scenario, but John W. Whitehead’s projection of what would happen to Jesus, or someone like him, is probably not far off the mark. From Whitehead at rutherford.org:
Jesus was born into a police state not unlike the growing menace of the American police state.
But what if Jesus, the revered preacher, teacher, radical and prophet, had been born and raised 2,000 years later in the American police state?
Consider the following if you will.
The Christmas narrative of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one.
The Roman Empire had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable, where Mary gave birth to a baby boy. That boy, Jesus, would grow up to undermine the political and religious establishment of his day and was eventually crucified as a warning to others not to challenge the powers-that-be.
However, had Jesus been born in the year 2016…
Rather than traveling to Bethlehem for a census, Jesus’ parents would have been mailed a 28-page American Community Survey, a mandatory government questionnaire documenting their habits, household inhabitants, work schedule, etc.
Instead of being born in a manger, Jesus might have been born at home. Rather than wise men and shepherds bringing gifts, however, the baby’s parents might have been forced to ward off visits from state social workers intent on prosecuting them for the home birth. One couple in Washington had all three of their children removed after social services objected to the two youngest being birthed in an unassisted home delivery.
