Baptist News Global: "Should 'Real' Christians Really Vote Republican?"
Using labels to identify one's Christian faith can be difficult these days. Terms that were once exclusively associated with a specific doctrinal, theological perspective or broader denominational orientation now have political meanings. I dropped the term "Evangelical" from my self-description, preferring to use just the term "Christian," though that also carries some political baggage as well. I was raised in a denominational tradition which taught that its doctrine and practice of the faith made it "closer to God" than other traditions. They didn't really teach that others weren't Christians, like some conservative Evangelical groups do, just that they were better Christians.
It took a long time to throw that off. Ironically, it was earning a master's degree at a graduate school affiliated with the denomination itself that helped me get past that exclusivity and develop an understanding that the Christian faith was intentionally inclusive and, narrowed down to its core beliefs, is really defined by just one salient point which is the confession of Jesus as the Christ. There is a lot of other baggage attached to that, in multiple phrases that begin with, "You can't be a Christian if..." How Christians vote has always been in the background, but now, it's a core doctrine of the faith. It's not found anywhere in the Bible, but that has never been an obstacle for conservative Evangelicals who want to make a point. They are masters at twisting Bible passages out of their context and original meaning.
It should not be surprising that, among the multiple denominations and groupings, and thousands of independent, non-denominational churches of American Evangelicalism, there is a whole lot more bickering, fighting, finger point, and accusations of heresy and apostasy over everything from whether women can be pastors to what kind of clothing is appropriate to wear to church, to whether using recorded instrumental music to accompany singing in worship is "bringing the devil into the church." But what is remarkable, against that backdrop, is the fact that if someone is a Republican, they will be accepted even if they belong to what Evangelicals consider a hell-bound "cult." They will call the pope the "vicar of Satan" and the Catholic Church the "whore of Babylon" (I'm not exaggerating, there are many Evangelicals who do this) but will invite Catholic clergy into their church if they're an anti-abortion Republican. And then, the next day, in a discussion about faith, they'll trash the pope and declare the church apostate.
Priorities.
My List Looks a Lot Like the One In BNG
I registered as a Democrat in 1976, voted for Jimmy Carter and have never looked back. I was raised in a working class family, my Dad was a union man and his roots went back to Roosevelt. Democrats are not perfect, make mistakes, get off track, have trouble with messaging and can fall into the trap of letting political ambition drive their actions. But I've never felt that, when it came to things that were important to me, they didn't have my back and from a political perspective, Democratic politicians have always represented my interests.
Even though I am an adopted child, I've never really been sucked in by the idea that abortion should always be the bottom line in voting, and electing politicians who are in favor of abortion rights means supporting "baby killers." No, it doesn't. I absolutely does not mean that at all. In an accurate interpretation of Christian faith, every person is accountable before God for their own life, not someone else's. We do not have the kind of insight and "immaculate vision" to see into other people's lives and judge their circumstances and their convictions. It is within the means of our capability to resolve the problem and lower the numbers of abortions without sending women caught in untenable circumstances to prison and without interfering in the moral right every woman has to make that decision. There are men who should also be involved and accountable, you know.
My morals and my Christian values do indeed determine my vote. I won't vote for a pathological liar who has demonstrated absolutely no capacity whatsoever to recognize truth or do anything with it if he does. He lives in a fantasy la-la-land. And I won't vote for someone who has no ethical or moral compass, cheats in business, on his taxes and thinks people who handle their finances like responsible Americans are "losers" and "suckers." Nor will I vote for anyone who supports him, or any of that ideology, which is anti-American, anti-democratic and anti-Patriotic.
I will not vote for an election denier. If they don't believe in free and fair elections, why are they running anyway?
I will not vote for anyone who believes in conspiracy theories. In particular, I will always vote against anyone who, in any way at all, references the lying, scam of Q-Anon as a source. I think any human being who buys into that is morally and educationally bankrupt.
I won't vote for anyone who doesn't see the need for comprehensive gun control legislation with enforcement teeth in it. We've proven, over and over that this does not violate the right to bear arms and it can be done. School shootings are especially heinous to me. And Christians, especially Evangelicals, should be particularly sensitive to this, given that Biblical doctrine is strong and certain in its condemnation of violence and elevates peacemaking to divine status.
I won't vote for any racist, anyone who espouses any kind of white supremacy theories, anyone who sees ethnicity and color as some kind of deficiency or disability.
No anti-immigration politician will get my vote.
No one who is against corporations and the wealthy paying their fair share, an equal percentage according to income, of taxes will get my vote.
I vote against idolatry, and against radicalization, which has happened to a large part of the Republican party. They follow a politician who has elevated himself to the place God should be, and demands exclusive loyalty. It's not possible to give any loyalty to God in that political party, it can't be shared. God, and Christian faith, are just tools to be used to make weak-minded people think that those values are at stake when they're clearly not.
Christianity in a Democracy
When the church's early Apostles, Peter and Paul, wrote to Christians about how to view government, it was the Roman Empire that set the context for their words. And in spite of that, they still taught that it was a Christian virtue to follow the law as an example of faith. In a democracy, where the will of the people is the driving force behind the law, and Christians have an opportunity to participate by voting is it really possible to be "morally wrong" when choosing candidates to elect to public office?
Yes, I would say that it is, when those candidates advocate for government that would eliminate the rights of individual citizens. We're instructed to live peaceably and under any government that is in authority over us, but with the privilege of choosing our own comes the privilege, and obligation, to protect the right that we have to worship freely and not have our churches directed by government authority, rather than by the movement of God's spirit.
No candidate is perfect, and so applying some kind of moral standard to those running for office will always fall short. Those are personal preferences, and we're all entitled to them without being judged for it. But at the core of the conspiracy theories and the calls for Christian nationalism, and the authoritarian, anti-patriotic, constitution-hating Trump, is a moral issue that makes voting for anyone who supports those candidates morally wrong.
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