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What would Jesus tell House Speaker Paul Ryan about looking after the sick and the needy? Credit... Mandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

A woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came up behind Jesus and touched his clothes in hope of a cure. Jesus turned to her and said: "Fear not. Because of your faith, you are now healed."

Then spoke Pious Paul of Ryan: "But teacher, is that wise? When you cure her, she learns dependency. Then the poor won't take care of themselves, knowing that you'll always bail them out! You must teach them personal responsibility!"

They were interrupted by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and shouted, "Jesus, have pity on us."

"NO!" shouted Pious Paul. "Jesus! You don't have time. We have a cocktail party fund-raiser in the temple. And don't worry about them - they've already got health care access."

Jesus turned to Pious Paul, puzzled.

"Why, they can pray for a cure," Pious Paul explained. "I call that universal health care access."

Jesus turned to the 10 lepers. " Rise and go," he told them. "Your faith has made you well." Then he turned back to Pious Paul, saying, "Let me tell you the story of the good Samaritan.

" A man was attacked by robbers who stripped him of clothes, beat him and left him half dead. A minister passed down this same road, and when he saw the injured man, he crossed to the other side and hurried on. So did a rich man who claimed to serve God. But then a despised Samaritan came by and took pity on the injured man. He bandaged his wounds and put the man on his own donkey and paid an innkeeper to nurse him to health. So which of these three should we follow?"

"Those who had mercy on him," Pious Paul said promptly.

Jesus nodded. "So go --"

"I mean the first two," Pious Paul interjected. "For the Samaritan's work is unsustainable and sends the wrong message. It teaches travelers to take dangerous roads, knowing that others will rescue them from self-destructive behaviors. This Samaritan also seems to think it right to redistribute money from those who are successful and give it to losers. That's socialism! Meanwhile, if the rich man keeps his money, he can invest it and create jobs. So it's an act of mercy for the rich man to hurry on and ignore the robbery victim."

" How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven," Jesus mused to himself. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven."

"Let me teach you about love, Jesus - tough love!" Pious Paul explained. "You need a sustainable pro-business model. And you need to give people freedom, Jesus, the freedom to suffer misery and poverty."

"The Lord God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor," Jesus replied, emphasizing the last two words. Then he turned to a paralyzed beggar at his feet. "Stand up!" Jesus told the man. "Pick up your mat and go home." As the man danced about joyfully, Pious Paul rolled his eyes dismissively.

"Look, Jesus, you have rare talent, and it should be rewarded," Pious Paul said. "I have a partner, The Donald, who would like to work with you: He'd set up a lovely hospital, and the rich would come and pay for you to heal them. You'd get a percentage, and it'd be a real money-spinner. Overhead would be minimal because every morning you could multiply some loaves and fishes. You could strike it rich!"

" Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God," Jesus said. "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received comfort."

"Oh, come on, Jesus," Pious Paul protested. "Don't go socialist on me again. Please don't encourage class warfare. The best way to help the needy is to give public money to the rich. That then inspires the poor to work harder, galvanizes the sick to become healthy, forces the lepers to solve their own problems rather than kick back and depend on others. That's why any realistic health plan has to focus on providing less coverage for the poor, and big tax benefits for the rich. When millions of people lose health care, that's when a country is great again!"

" From everyone who has been given much," Jesus told him, "much will be required."

"Well, sure, this hospital would have a foundation to do some charity work. Maybe commissioning portraits of The Donald to hang in the entrance. But let's drop this bleeding heart nonsense about health care as a human right, and see it as a financial opportunity to reward investors. In this partnership, 62 percent of the benefits would go to the top 0.6 percent - perfect for a health care plan."

Jesus turned to Pious Paul on his left and said: "Be gone! For I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; and I was sick, and you did not help me."

"But, Lord," protested Pious Paul of Ryan, "when did I see you hungry or thirsty or sick and refuse to help you? I drop your name everywhere. And I'm pro-life!"

" Truly, I say to you," Jesus responded, "as you did not help the homeless, the sick - as you did not help the least of these, you did not help me."

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Opinion | And Jesus Said Unto Paul of Ryan ... (Published 2017)

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A woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came up behind Jesus and touched his clothes in hope of a cure. Jesus turned to her and said: "Fear not. Because of your faith, you are now healed." Then spoke Pious Paul of Ryan: "But teacher, is that wise?

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Leonard Pitts: "Convenience a "Time Thief"

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Leonard Pitts: "Convenience a "Time Thief"

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Nicholas Kristof: "Husbands are Deadlier than Terrorists"

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Nicholas Kristof: "Husbands are Deadlier than Terrorists"

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A vigil in Roseburg, Ore., for victims of the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in October 2015. The motive of the gunman, a student, was not clear. Credit... Amanda Lucier for The New York Times

With the President Trump Reality Show, it's easy to be distracted by ANGRY ALL-CAPITAL TWEETS or Oval Office tantrums. But resist, and stay focused on matters of life and death.

Consider two critical issues: refugees and guns. Trump is going berserk over the former, but wants to ease rules on the latter. So let's look at the relative risks.

In the four decades between 1975 and 2015, terrorists born in the seven nations in Trump's travel ban killed zero people in America, according to the Cato Institute. Zero.

In that same period, guns claimed 1.34 million lives in America, including murders, suicides and accidents. That's about as many people as live in Boston and Seattle combined.

It's also roughly as many Americans as died in all the wars in American history since the American Revolution, depending on the estimate used for Civil War dead.

It's true that Muslim Americans - both born in the United States and immigrants from countries other than those subject to Trump's restrictions - have carried out deadly terrorism in America. There have been 123 such murders since the 9/11 attacks - and 230,000 other murders.

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Yemenis Laila Alambri, 3, and her mother, Samar Alwahiri, at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday. They had been stranded in Djibouti when President Trump imposed a travel ban. Credit... David Mcnew/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Last year Americans were less likely to be killed by Muslim terrorists than for being Muslim, according to Charles Kurzman of the University of North Carolina. The former is a risk of approximately one in six million; the latter, one in one million.

The bottom line is that most years in the U.S., ladders kill far more Americans than Muslim terrorists do. Same with bathtubs. Ditto for stairs. And lightning.

Above all, fear spouses: Husbands are incomparably more deadly in America than jihadist terrorists.

And husbands are so deadly in part because in America they have ready access to firearms, even when they have a history of violence. In other countries, brutish husbands put wives in hospitals; in America, they put them in graves.

Yet Trump is raging about a risk from refugees that seems manageable, even as he talks about relaxing rules on another threat, guns, that is infinitely more lethal.

"I will get rid of gun-free zones on schools," Trump said last year. "My first day, it gets signed, O.K., my first day." Trump hasn't in fact signed such an order, but his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, backed him up at her confirmation hearing last month, saying that guns might be necessary in schools because of " potential grizzlies."

Then there's Sebastian Gorka, a White House aide to Trump, who wrote a book in which he suggested that Americans engage in their own private counterterrorism strategy: "Consider applying for a concealed-carry permit."

One reason to think that this isn't great advice: Gorka was arrested at Reagan Airport in Washington last year for trying to bring a gun through security. This didn't prevent him from getting a White House job.

The House of Representatives this month voted to end a restriction on people with severe psychiatric disorders buying guns. Likewise, there is a strong push in Congress - backed by Donald Trump Jr., the president's son - to end longstanding curbs on the purchase of silencers. The younger Trump and other advocates say that silencers would reduce the danger of hearing loss from gunfire.

"It's about hearing protection," Donald Jr. explained in a video for SilencerCo, a Utah company that makes silencers. "It's a health issue, frankly." He expressed admiration for silencer technology and frustration that "I don't get to use it in the People's Republic of New York."

The truth is that we don't have much evidence on the impact of silencers (partly because the gun lobby tries to block research on gun safety). But the sale of silencers has been restricted nationally since the 1930s because of fears that they help criminals avoid attention after shootings, and the National Rifle Association's battle for them seems to be rooted in its broader campaign to eviscerate gun laws.

The evidence does suggest that if we really want to make Americans safer, then we should require universal background checks before gun purchases ( 22 percent of guns are purchased without background checks). We should work hard to get guns out of the hands of people subject to domestic violence restraining orders, or people with recent histories of crime or alcohol or drug abuse.

We should also require trigger locks or safe storage of guns, especially in houses with young children. We should crack down on gun trafficking and straw purchasers.

So let's not be diverted by shiny things and furious tweets. With his travel ban, Trump is peddling an ineffective policy that is morally repugnant, even as he marches toward a looser policy on guns likely to result in more school shootings, more shattered families and more lives lost.

Those graves will last long after Trump's tweets are gone.

*

In other news, I'm delighted to announce that the winner of my 2017 win-a-trip contest is Aneri Pattani, a senior at Northeastern University and an ace student journalist. We will probably report together on global poverty issues in West Africa in June, focusing on Liberia, with a separate trip looking at America's own poverty. Congrats to Aneri and a special thanks to the Center for Global Development for helping sift through hundreds of applications.

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Opinion | Husbands Are Deadlier Than Terrorists (Published 2017)

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With the President Trump Reality Show, it's easy to be distracted by ANGRY ALL-CAPITAL TWEETS or Oval Office tantrums. But resist, and stay focused on matters of life and death. Consider two critical issues: refugees and guns. Trump is going berserk over the former, but wants to ease rules on the latter.

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Long Live Benjamin - Episode 1

What happens when a man's best friend is a capuchin monkey? In the first episode of this six-part documentary, the artist Allen Hirsch makes a surprising discovery while on honeymoon in Venezuela.

I mean, the best lighting angle are - are from over here. - O.K. But when you're going to do cosmetic shots of the sculpture, it should be in the best light there is. Pick up a little more. It's still not the best light for it. Um ... How's that? How does it look in the light there? Is that the right angle? Come on, boy. Let's see. We talk to our cars, so I don't think there's anything wrong with talking to a furry ... creature, here. O.K. ... O.K. Gonna work with him today a little bit, so ... we'll see his fur. We'll see how he looks today. Oh, you look good today, Benjamin. You look good, today. [music] A new president at the White House means a new painting at the National Portrait Gallery. And this morning the artist, Allen Hirsch, is next to his work. And Mr. Hirsch, good morning. [music] [sighs] How you feeling? O.K. So tell me about how you met Benjamin. [static] Belkis came walking in through the gate below, holding this box. Something about her, how she was walking and how she looked, made me stop what I was doing. Belkis: There was this little boy with a shoe box. And inside the shoe box, there was this tiny, little animal. I said, what happened? He told me that there were two little monkeys before, and one of them died. And I said, "Look at - look at this one, it's not eating, we have to take it to the vet." Probably a hunter shot the mother down. The mother fell from the tree, like really high up. Allen: He was dying, so ... went immediately to the pharmacy and got him some baby milk. Belkis: It's very sad, because monkeys go with the mom for at least two years before to be independent. And this little baby didn't have anything to hold onto. So I started to read a lot about monkeys and their development, especially Capuchins. Allen: I knew that he needed to hold something right away, because monkeys are - that's how they survive - by holding. So we got him a stuffed animal, and I got him a walrus. It had a nice texture. The hair had to be a certain length that he could really grab onto. And I could also stick my hand inside and sort of make it feel alive to him. Belkis: In general, Allen is the one who became his guardian, his ... This figure. Allen: I wasn't looking for it, but it just felt natural to really ... fall in love with this creature and take care of him. I thought about putting him in different stuffed toys. I thought about making him up like a cat and getting cat's - like a cat makeup. I thought about burying him in my wife's stomach. She would be a pregnant mother going through the gate. And if she was to be X-rayed, she would have a little fetus. It might look a little bit like a monkey fetus. But probably the best thing would be to put him in a cat, get a Hollywood artist to make him look like a cat, and get a cat permit. I said to him, I don't want anything to do with that. I simply was saying how crazy, and far-fetched, and kind of ridiculous the idea was. I was so terrified that, you know ... he's going to go to jail or something. Allen: I put him in the inside pocket of my sport jacket. I kept him up all night before the flight, so he would sleep, and he slept the whole flight. Belkis: You know, JFK, they had dogs searching for drugs. So he was lucky. We made a beeline for a yellow taxi and jumped in, took Benjamin out of the bag. Said, "Welcome to New York, Benjamin." It was something I needed at that point in my life too, I guess. Belkis: I heard stories in the past how difficult it is to raise a wild animal. But at this point, we didn't have any other option. [music]

What happens when a man's best friend is a capuchin monkey? In the first episode of this six-part documentary, the artist Allen Hirsch makes a surprising discovery while on honeymoon in Venezuela. Credit Credit... Piero Ribelli

I've always struggled to be human, to know how to act and to what purpose. As a young New York artist, living in a tiny commercial storefront downtown on Crosby Street, I documented this process through drawing and painting self-portraits, which faithfully recorded the shifting moods and musings that swirled through my mind. This practice brought few answers, but did conjure the questions, which gazed back out at me starkly from the canvas.

After marrying a woman from Caracas in the mid-1990s, I started traveling to Venezuela, where I became fascinated with the lives of people living on the jungle coast. The simplicity of sunlight, children's laughter and the basic search for daily necessities was enough to quiet my New York rumblings. Then one day my wife brought home a cardboard box with a shriveled baby capuchin monkey, clinging to life. His mother had been killed by locals who liked monkey soup. It was a propitious moment and I immediately knew I was meant to care for him.

Benjamin was a tiny, perfectly formed creature; every movement was an exquisite expression. His little body and prehensile tail was part human, leopard, snake - I never grew tired of watching him. Although endowed with a primate mind, he was a being far from the twisted detritus of humankind; he preserved the purity of his creator's instincts. As I cared for him and admired him, he became a living vessel to pour in an unconditional love I didn't realize I had. Soon, I would do anything for him, including smuggling him back to New York - even at risk of prosecution and imprisonment.

In New York, he was the perfect missing organic link in this concrete jungle, a magic sprite who cheered up the downtrodden souls trudging the streets. He leapt from mailboxes to scaffolding, working the crowds like a star, but also challenging their reactions when he wanted, like a monkey Yoda. He was an ambassador of the jungle world, reminding us of our distant but common heritage.

We were connected at the heart: I brought out the human in him, and he brought out the monkey in me. When we walked around Manhattan, he sat on my shoulder, and we were like one creature. At home, Benjamin was always close by, a silent witness, sucking his thumb and reflecting while I worked.

I have painted portraits of some of the most powerful leaders in the world and have studied how the brain hemispheres project on our visages. The face reveals the psyche. Darwin spoke about the muscular stresses of repeated expressions that slowly etch into the face, revealing personality. Just one look at Benjamin's face made clear that he was a sentient being with some kind of self-awareness.

The legal status of our bond and his personhood was another matter. He was illegal in Manhattan, and time and time again we had to hide or escape to prevent him from being confiscated. But even on the run, we delighted in each other's company. There was simply nothing that was going to come between us.

But as he grew, so did his teeth, and his will to challenge me when our interests diverged. I had to learn to respect his space, to protect the public and to forgive him when we fought tooth and tail. But Benjamin's wildness, his desire for independence and self-preservation, is also what made him so human. Each of us, artist and monkey, struggled to control our respective emotions and managed to live harmoniously together in our large communal SoHo loft-cage.

The final chapter of our story together was the most dramatic, and Benjamin's altercation with another human made national news. I stood by him; we escaped the law in the nick of time and I was forced to leave the state. I wanted him to live out his days with his own kind, among other monkeys, but it was not meant to be. Benjamin's life and purpose was only to be with me and humanity. And so, shortly after I retired him to an animal sanctuary, he passed away.

His death was unbearable: My tears flowed into an endless river of grief. As I waited to bury him, I decided to send the aching love through my fingers to recreate him in art. I painted, sculpted and wrote of his memory, evoking his spirit and honoring the blessing of having loved something so deeply. Now his image looks back out at me not with questions, but with the answer.

Everyone needs a Benjamin. Something you can love unconditionally, that you will do anything for, that brings magic and meaning to life.

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Opinion | Long Live Benjamin (Published 2017)

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Op-Docs I've always struggled to be human, to know how to act and to what purpose. As a young New York artist, living in a tiny commercial storefront downtown on Crosby Street, I documented this process through drawing and painting self-portraits, which faithfully recorded the shifting moods and musings that swirled through my mind.

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Leonard Pitts: "In the Face of Hatred..."

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Leonard Pitts: "In the Face of Hatred..."

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Leonard Pitts: "Sometimes the Earth is Cruel"

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Leonard Pitts: "Sometimes the Earth is Cruel"

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Leonard Pitts: "It's Important for Girls to Know..."

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Leonard Pitts: "It's Important for Girls to Know..."

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Leonard Pitts "Losing the Race for Intelligence

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Leonard Pitts "Losing the Race for Intelligence

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Please ignore the questions at the top