Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's goes on Tucker Carlson and says, 'I love Jesus Christ'

[Behind the Aegis]

Four years ago, when the founders of Ben & Jerry’s took to The New York Times to defend their creamery’s West Bank settlement boycott, the opening of their op-ed read, “We are the founders of Ben & Jerry’s. We are also proud Jews.”

For at least one of them, that may have changed.

Ben Cohen, the Ben of the pair, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s talk show this week, mostly to discuss his opposition to U.S. involvement in the Ukraine war and the Pentagon’s sprawling budget, issues where his long-touted progressive ideals can overlap with Carlson’s far-right ones.

Then, at the end of the hour-long show, Carlson asked Cohen about his “spiritual beliefs.”

“In terms of a spiritual belief, I mean, I don’t practice a religion,” Cohen responded. “I was born a Jew. I love Jesus Christ. I think the words that he said are wonderful, are amazing. And, you know, I’m kind of distressed that a lot of organized Christian religions are not really, I don’t know, abiding by the words of Jesus Christ.”

more...

[LauraInLA]

1. I was shocked by the fact that he appeared on Tucker Carlson's show to begin with.

[Dorian Gray]

6. I'm not

have you not seen the far left and the far right making alliances?

You've had Cenk Uygur and Shaun King commenting positively on Marjorie Taylor Greene's posts. You've had a bunch of Bernie Bro types come out as MAGA.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/upshot/voters-trump-bernie-sanders.html

[Cuthbert Allgood]

21. Enough. Stop.

Nobody that supports the policies of Sanders becomes MAGA absent a traumatic head injury.

But, hey, keep shitting on progressives and then act shocked when they aren't just lining up to support Dems.

[Dorian Gray]

22. There were a whole group of activists

who spent time denigrating Genocide Joe and refusing to vote Kamala.... and barely any time protesting Trump's arrests of their own activists.

Personally, I don't think they're progressive. Progressives understand that to make progress you need incremental steps toward that progress and not derail it completely.

But there is a segment who self identify as very left leaning who disrupt democratic politics. I don't think we can deny that.

I think AOC is a progressive, and SHE's been disrupted by this group of activists. She's actually trying to connect with communities and lead.

So telling me to STOP is ending the conversation that needs to be had here. Difficult truths, but they exist. And there are enough former Bernie supporters who are now MAGA to be disturbed by the process.

[RandomNumbers]

30. In 2016 someone I knew switched from Bernie to Trump.

One person for sure, and another Bernie supporter who absolutely refused to vote for Hillary - although I suspect that one voted for Stein, or sat it out. But I wouldn't fall off my chair if I found out that one went for Trump too.

The fundamental policy that year, for these people, seemed to be "tear it all down". With Bernie out, they didn't see Democrats doing that. Well I guess they are getting the FO part after the FA now.

[ForgedCrank]

32. I personally believe

that it's a grave error is strategy when we expect others to back and support the exact same things that we do at a lock-step level. There are folks who are willing to abandon all for the sake of a single or a few issues. It has never really made sense to me in a logical realm. For example, I might get frustrated with Democratic leadership for inaction on a particular policy matter, but it wouldn't make sense to abandon the party and start voting for Sanders or Trump. Some who are so invested in the Palestine issue rejected Democrats in large numbers just on that one issue alone. So they basically traded it all just to show their defiance on one issue, and now look what they got as their "reward".
I think it is healthy to properly criticize party leaders because that is how the system is supposed to work regarding representation.
I'm a big proponent of living in the stench of absolute truth, and I reject (and even speak out against) the hyperbole that gets propagated as fact in the political realm. Pick any one loud subject of the day and we will find some truth, but also littered with misinformation and sometimes outright lies. This doesn't do us any favors, and we should stop doing it; let the Republicans do that crap, we don't want to be like them. Our policy can stand on it's own merits, we shouldn't have to resort to that sort of baloney and it makes the rest of us look less informed and less intelligent. I just wish we could all be 100% honest and be willing to accept the hard truths when we are faced with it. For example, regarding the Israel/Palestine issue; I honestly don't root for one side or the other, I'm just firmly anti-war. Both sides of that fight have valid grievances, but they shouldn't be killing one another because of it. But what can a Democratic representative from [pick a local] do about it, especially with the numbers we have right now? Instead of increasing our power by voting for Harris, many decided to make it worse by voting for Trump, and that helped reduce our numbers down ballot as a result.
We can't do much to change the Republican voters or leadership, but we can change ourselves. That is where we need to focus our efforts. Making our own policy and leadership more attractive to the centrist voters is the magic formula to winning. And we need to do that even if we are forced to abandon some of the more fringe issues that account for most of the criticism leveled against us.
Anyway, I know that went off in too many directions, I just had to get a general statement off my chest.

[RoseTrellis]

56. This!

Some who are so invested in the Palestine issue rejected Democrats in large numbers just on that one issue alone. So they basically traded it all just to show their defiance on one issue, and now look what they got as their "reward".

I think you hit on something with this. These people might believe that demonstrating the importance of their one issue by not voting democratic, they perhaps believe that this will punish leadership into taking their position more seriously in the future, “ or else’

[Beastly Boy]

39. It wasn't just one or two. It was an estimated 6%-12% of Sanders supporters.

Another 12% of them didn't vote. That's as many as 100,000 Bernie supporters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders%E2%80%93Trump_voters

[Oneironaut]

68. Cenk Uygur, aka Mr. "Put me in coach," is fucking embarrassing.

I would argue even more so than Ana Kasparian’s behavior. Neither of them are genuine, but, Cenk completely debased himself by kissing MAGA ass, and got nothing from it.

[ananda]

26. When a person goes to the dark side...

well, then you have Tucker Carlson.

[AZJonnie]

2. You would know more than me on this but is it in some way considered an offense to Judaism

to say that you love the words of the man, Jesus of Nazareth? Or are you not supposed to call him Jesus Christ? I don't get the author saying this means '(he) may have changed'? I thought, and correct me if I'm wrong, Jews simply don't believe he's the son of God, not that there's animosity, like you cannot think he was a great man or whatnot?

[edhopper]

23. He says he is a nonpracticing Jew

most like agnostic but spiritual. So saying he likes the words of Jesus shouldn't offend anyone.
And Jews can appreciate words of peace and love without assigning divinity to the person who said it.

[Beastly Boy]

47. He didn't say Jesus. He said Jesus Christ.

And this is a clear assignment of divinity, of the person in question, not what he said or preached.

[edhopper]

48. It's a casual reference

Not an academic theological discussion.
I am a non practicing Jew, and I might say Jesus Christ in a conversation.
And I don't even know if he was real.

[Polybius]

53. So?

That's His full name.

[Beastly Boy]

55. Thats not his full name. His full name is Jesus. He is also referred to in the Gospels as Jesus of Nazareth.

"Christ" is a title, Greek for "the anointed one, added later to his name to signify a purely Christian canon which is unrelated to Jesus' Jewish origins and which is rejected by Judaism.

To have a self-described Jew call Jesus by his Christian title in response to a Christofascist right-wing host on a show viewed by millions of other Christofascists is loaded with troublesome connotations.

[Polybius]

64. Ben Cohen may not have heard that opinion, or perhaps he was being inclusive

I am Catholic, but there are many things about Catholicism that I am still finding out about.

[Beastly Boy]

66. This is not an opinion, it is a universally accepted interpretation.

It is possible that Ben Cohen never heard of it and never realized the significance of what he was saying. But I am sure that Carlson and the vast majority if his listeners did.

It's the context, not the extent of Ben Cohen's ignorance itself, that makes all the difference.

[Polybius]

67. It's not universal

Christians we all taught His full name. You're free to believe otherwise, but it you shouldn't publicly say that we are wrong. I would never say another religion has their facts wrong on a public forum.

[Beastly Boy]

46. It is the appearance of the self-described "proud Jew" on the Chrisofascist's show

in which the said proud Jew referred to Jesus as Christ (the Messiah in Greek), not Jesus, not Jesus of Nazareth, likely as a sign of appeasement of the host, that is offensive.

While the nature of Jesus was debated in Jewish Talmudic literature, he was never considered the Messiah, and calling Jesus a god or a son of God is indeed an abomination. His teachings are consistent with the rabbinical traditions of his contemporaries and were not as profoundly radical in Judea as they were in Rome.

None of this is, of course, expected to be known to a non-practicibg Jew, so Ben Cohen may have spoken out ignorance when he referred to Jesus as Christ. Nevertheless, having spoken on the show that may get 10 to 20 million viewers, mostly right wingers, his remark can easily be spun into the realm of overt antisemitism.

And THAT is something he should have been aware of.

[edhopper]

49. I do agree

He should never have gone on that show.

[Polybius]

54. There's animosity

See post 47.

[TommyT139]

3. Where did he say

...that he's not a Jew (proud or not)? Loving Jesus, admiring his spiritual teachings, and wishing that Christians were better at following them -- that's not restricted to one faith tradition. And people can certainly be Jewish and also oppose the ethnic cleansing and genocide being perpetrated by Israel.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. What? Are you Jewish?

[TommyT139]

13. Why do you ask?

This is the general forum.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. Because of your comments and given your other statement, failure to read the article.

[TommyT139]

18. On the contrary, I did read it.

Reasonable people can disagree about lots of things. I'm surprised if opposing genocide is one of them, but it's a big world.

[Behind the Aegis]

20. No, it was your strawman that threw me.

And, then your 'splaining that made me mad. It is a big world in which some think they can talk about, and down to other minorities, despite claims such behavior is not right.

[JI7]

15. Tucker Carlson is a Jew Hater. Going o Tucker Carlson's show

says a lot.

[TommyT139]

16. And a major transphobe (2nd generation)

I don't know why Ben Cohen went on that show. His main hobby horse seems to be eliminating DoD spending as much as possible, especially the immense funds going to assist the Netanyahu government committing genocide. Seems like he was duped by the stated aims of DOGE -- more than that, it's hard to get anything recent, given how X is structured. Sometimes people get obsessed and want to go anywhere that will publicize their message. And as stated elsewhere, the fringes of otherwise progressive segments of society have a tendency to stray into discourse identical to hyper-conservatives -- the "horseshoe" pattern.

But that's a different topic than what I took as the main point of the article (and originally, this thread), posted without any other comment or perspective by the DU member. The article reads like an insinuation that because Ben Cohen wants Israel to stop trying to eliminate Palestinians, and mentioned his love of Jesus (not worship, as he made clear), that Cohen isn't really Jewish. I and some others questioned that dogma, which is clearly false, according to the lived experience and public witness of Jews living in the US.

[mwmisses4289]

28. Mr. Cohen reply makes me think of this sentiment

that is often attributed Gandhi; something along the lines of I like your christ, his followers not so much.

[David__77]

36. Thank you for your comments.

[Beastly Boy]

40. Would you be so condescending to a Muslim?

Would you lecture a Muslim about loving Jesus and his spiritual teachings in response to an article about a non-practicing Muslim loving Jesus?

Would you bring up people who can certainly be Muslim and oppose ethnic cleansing and genocide perpetrated by Hamas in the context that doesn't mention Hamas terrorists or ask your opinion on their war crimes?

I wouldn't. And something tells me you wouldn't either.

So what gives you the idea that you can be so tone deaf to a Jew?

[TommyT139]

52. Not an analogous question

The Quran discusses the place that Jesus has in Muslim theology, so there's already an acceptance of Jesus in Islam as a messenger of God.

Also, my question was actually a question, not a "lecture." I wasn't being "tone deaf," but instead was willing to listen. All I got back were non-answers...and what sounds like the clip clop of little white knight hooves.

[Beastly Boy]

59. The Talmud also discusses the place of Jesus in Jewish theology, and neither has anything to do with my question.

My question was not about theological distinctions between the two faiths. It was about YOUR attitude towards people of different denominations (not necessarily faiths, since my proposition was based on comparing non-observing, non-denominational persons born into their respective religious backgrounds and rejecting them) who express identical sentiments. As such, it is an analogous question on its face.

The only question in your post was "Where did he say...that he's not a Jew (proud or not)?", referring to Cohen.The rest was a lecture. A lecture to a Jewish DUer. A lecture to a Jewish DUer about loving Jesus regardless of faith. And this lecture inexplicably ends with accusing Israel, not the militant Islamist terrorists, of "genocide". This is not only tone deaf, it presumes authority to pass judgements on Jews and on Israel.

And in this respect, your deflection is telling. Without answering my question directly, you are still implying that between a Muslim and a Jew with identical outlooks on the religion they were born into and chose to reject, that you would treat a Muslim with more deference than you did a Jew. And the basis for your argument is your own simplistic interpretation of Jesus' place in Islam, not the apples to apples comparison that I proposed to you.

Of course, none of it has anything to do with the OP, which is about an extreme left-wing self-described Jew talking to the extreme right-wing host who is very popular with extreme right-wing Christian Evangelicals and professing his love to Jesus, the Evangelical icon who is, in the eyes of the host and his followers, the embodiment of the divine inspiration behind their right wing ideology.

[usonian]

4. Carlson MYOFB

Why don't you test pilot a cruise missile?

[Cha]

5. Oh he's Opposed to the US Helping Ukraine..

That's Putin's side.

If he "loves Jesus Christ" so much why doesn't he learn a thing or two about his Teachings instead of just talking about it?

And for me... going on TC's show smears Anything has to say.

Mahalo BtA

[Mosby]

8. He also supports DOGE

But for slightly different reasons, he was hoping they would slash the Pentagon budget.

This is all "horseshoe theory" stuff imo.

[Cha]

10. Yes, it is Stupid Horseshoe Crap... and Disgusting.

TY

[Prairie_Seagull]

24. Did you just coin a word use. Horseshoe?

Like it a lot.

[Beastly Boy]

41. The term has been around for a while

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory

[newdeal2]

9. For many years, according to his Wikipedia page

Wow. I understand being anti-war, but that doesn't mean you should be pro-Putin and spread Russian talking points.

Like others have said, when the far left starts hanging out with RWers, I'm out

[Cha]

11. TY... If Ben is so "Anti War".. GO Talk to

to the War Criminal Aggressor Vlad Putin, Ben Cohen.. don't Promote his war..! The Stupid Burns.

[RandomNumbers]

31. For some people, "anti-war" is categorical.

That is, you cannot support ANY war. Total commitment to non-violence.

I had that phase as a youngster. Roughly in the same time frame (but not the exact same time) as my (very) brief interest in libertarianism after reading Atlas Shrugged (yes, cliche I know, but the predictability is real).

Then, as with the policies of libertarianism, I looked at the bigger picture and gamed out "okay what does this mean?" (also when I studied philosophy and ethics in college)

My conclusion was that I do NOT believe in a total commitment to non-violence in every situation. Because then you give awful people free reign to victimize others. Total non-violence assumes that all victimizers have a functioning conscience. In my several decades, I have found this is, sadly, not a good assumption.

Non-violence is appropriate - and possibly the most effective tool (think Gandhi and India breaking away from Britain) in many situations, but not always. As in the situation with Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine has the right to defend itself. Israel and Palestinians both have the right to defend themselves - ah but there we get into the question of "what is ethically allowable in defense of a nation?" I am quite sure rape, torture, and deliberate murder of innocents is NOT ethical. Sadly, most nations have soldiers, and sometimes leaders, who cross that line over and over. The violation of the ethics of self-defense does not take away the right to the nation's self-defense, but it sure does reduce the righteousness of it.

Back to the OP, I wish Ben Cohen and others who are stuck on step 1 of the ethics journey, would take the next step. It is unconscionable to just hand over Ukraine or America to Putin's Russia, as it would have been to hand over Europe to Hitler.

[ShazzieB]

37. There's a word for the kind of anti-war stance you describe: pacifism

To me, it's an idea that sounds wonderful in theory and has been shown to be effective in some situations (i.e., Gandhi in India, King in the US civil rights movement) . But when it comes to relations between nations, some of which are ready and willing, even eager in some cases, to invade other nations without provocation, it seems unrealistic to me.

It would be fantastic if all nations could agree to "beat their swords into ploughshares" and commit to commit to settling all disputes by peaceful means, but we are not even almost there. Maybe someday (I hope! ) we will no longer have to "imagine all the people living life in peace," because it will be a reality, but the human race still has a long way to go.

In the meantime, while we live in a world where one nation attacks and invades another with the intent of taking possession of it, it seems to me that the choices for the invaded nation come down to either fight back or surrender. Surrendering to a bloodthirsty dictator like Putin doesn't seem like much of a choice to me, and imo, standing by while a bloodthirst dictator lays waste to a less powerful neighnor doesnt seem like a good choice for the U..S.

I believe that settling all disputes nonviolently is a worthy aspiration, and aspirations are great; everyone should have them. But right now, it's just not reality.

[RJ-MacReady]

7. won't be supporting them anymore

Sorry being against Ukraine aid is anti American. Also going on tuckers show is unforgivable.

[womanofthehills]

33. Actually- in this new time of podcasts

Last edited Sat May 10, 2025, 12:22 PM - Edit history (1)

Going on Tucker’s show might get you ten to 20 million or more views - where you might get 500,000 on cable. I used to totally hate his guts but it seems like after being kicked out by Fox he is more Independent than right. He’s weird but has toned that down somewhat- surprisingly - he really goes after Republicans too.

If he has a good guest I will watch because I think I’m a more rounded person listening to both sides. I listened to this interview and found Cohen a very anti war guy who I liked.

[RJ-MacReady]

34. Fair enough

[Beastly Boy]

43. Listening to Cohen on Tucker doesn't get you any better rounded than

listening to Bannon on The Young Turks. You only get extreme views with these characters.

You get better rounded by listening to well-balanced and well-informed sources that feature well balanced and well informed guests.

And if you want to hear both sides, that would be Bernie debating Bannon, not one jerk (Tucker) interviewing another (Cohen).

[sprinkleeninow]

51. I refuse to purchase their ice cream anymore.

Perhaps he went on that 'show' plus what he 'claimed' bc he got wind of consumers boycotting his products. And he wanna sidle up to them to change their minds? $$$

[womanofthehills]

60. Ben & Jerry sold their ice cream brand in 2000.

For $326 million to multinational conglomerate Unilever — which also owns Breyers and Magnum.

[sprinkleeninow]

63. Come to think of it, yah, that's ringing a bell.

Now I need to boycott Breyer's n Magnum?

[Prairie Gates]

14. Maybe LSD was a government experiment after all...long fuse though

The hippies gave us two-three good years, about 45 outstanding albums, and then three decades of garbage.

[CrispyQ]

27. Three decades?

You're giving the hippies way more credit than they deserve! They were mostly over by 75.

[ProfessorGAC]

44. If Not Earlier

I left for college in '73, and the kids that were still doing the hippie thing were very few & very far between.
At least where I grew up, the hippie "culture" didn't make it to '75.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

65. A few remnants in the early 80's ...

I went to an arts high school in Texas and there were a few flower children (second generation) attending. Not terribly surprising that the arts might house the last vestiges of the movement.

When my kids were in high school ten years ago, I saw evidence of the neo-hippies. Not something I saw much of at the STEM universities I've been at in recent years.

[BlueTsunami2018]

19. The Christ character has a lot to recommend him.

Be cool to each other is a great message.

And yeah, I agree that most of these so-called Christians are nothing like the book character.

But appearing with a Nazi and supporting Russia are idiotic stances.

[karin_sj]

29. Sounds like Ben isn't much of a humanitarian

Towards the end of the article:

"Cohen has also recently begun promoting a website to back DOGE, the
Elon Musk-run operation that has rapidly slashed parts of the federal
government, including large global humanitarian programs. A request
for comment via that website, which Cohen touts on his X account, was
not immediately returned."

[Nanjeanne]

35. Yes Cohen is promoting cuts to the Pentagon spending if DOGE is serious about cutting waste.

Seems correct to me.

If DOGE is serious about cutting waste, it needs to look first at the Pentagon. The Department of Defense is the biggest spender—and the biggest waster—of taxpayers' hard-earned money.

From an article by Cohen in Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/doge-should-take-look-wasteful-pentagon-spending-opinion-2030222] DOGE Should Take a Look at Wasteful Pentagon Spending | Opinion

And the website referenced https://dogevsblob.org/]. Seems like cutting waste in Pentagon should be championed. But of course can be spun any way someone wants to fit their narrative. All one has to do is do a search about Cohen and Tucker and what pops up everywhere is right wing sites like Breitbart and Red State.

As a Jew, I dont object to what Cohen is saying. Jews don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah or son of God. But many Jews simply believe Jesus was a Jewish man, probably a preacher, who was killed for condemning the abuses of the Romans. His words are not something most Jews object to - Love your neighbor, Peace, feed the poor, forgive - what’s not to like? Im sure Talmud scholars who have been researching the Talmud forever have deep analysis and anyone interested can read scholarly articles - but most people are not doing that kind of research. So not quite sure what the outrage is. Maybe going on Tucker Carlson - which I wouldn’t recommend either. And his interpretation of the Russia Ukraine war too. But that’s not what the OP is about so its outrage to this Jew is kind of a stretch. But, hey, that’s me.

[Mosby]

42. When one uses the term "jesus christ"

They are calling him the messiah. His secular name is Jesus of Nazareth and his Hebrew name is Yeshua ben Yosef v'Miriam.

He went to hebrew school so he should know better.

[Nanjeanne]

45. Oh well I guess lots of ppl aren't as well informed

as you are. High standards indeed.

[Meowmee]

38. I stopped eating their ice cream a long time ago

Because of some other idiotic thing they said or did.

[mountain grammy]

57. I've always preferred Haagen Dazs..

but now their "pints" are 12 ozs .. only buy on sale. probably got my last $2.99 pint ever a few weeks ago.

I care more about ice cream than I do about anything Ben Cohen has to say.. and I don't care that much about ice cream unless it's HD chocolate chocolate chip..

[Meowmee]

62. It's your choice 😁

There are plenty of other much better ice creams out there than theirs or HD... if you buy in bulk at Costco/Bjs it's cheaper.

I only eat healthy choice fudge bars now, the organic ones with sugar not sucralose. Some had sucralose and I didn't realize it, because they were both the organic ones, I always read the ingredients first because a lot of artificial sweeteners disagree with me etc.

I also eat frozen yogurt bars which are lower carb and smaller. I have made some of my own ice cream too recently, but not too much, I need a better ice cream maker to do it. I do it with a mix of stevia and coconut sugar. I can't find a good recipe for almond milk, none of them worked.

The best ice cream I ever tasted was years ago in Canada at a home made ice cream place. One year I was addicted to HD egg nog, my bf at the time used to buy 4 quarts for me when we stopped off at 7 eleven on the way home 😹 Sadly it was only a seasonal flavor.

The BJ's brand (Wellsley Farms Premium) vanilla or chocolate is delicious, and only about $5-6 for a huge tub- 1/2 gallon. I think it is only 19g carbs per 2/3 cup maybe... so less sugar added probably. B&J and a lot of other brands add tons of sugar.

[womanofthehills]

61. They haven't owned Ben & Jerry's ice cream for 25 yrs

They sold it in 2000 to the same company that makes Breyers.

[BurnDoubt]

50. TWO SCOOPS, PLEASE?????????

He might be the best (only?) Christian I've heard from in ages. Let's make tomorrow "Slap your Pastor" day. They've so egregiously failed Jesus.

[Jacson6]

58. He of course he means the myths of Jesus

Feeding the hungry, helping a diabetic girl to recover from a coma and stopping people from stoning a woman for having an affair.

I admire those ideas also.