Braden’s Thoughts on Christianity

Election day is a very special time for me. Typically, I’ll get up earlier than usual and vote first thing in the morning. There’s just something about the spirit of democracy in action that just excites me. Besides 2004, I have never even had to wait in line for an extended period of time to get to the ballot.  The process is usually very quick and I’m done in less than 10 minutes.

I’ve read of Christians who did not feel the necessity to vote, feeling that a Christian’s role in civil government was to be as minimal as possible. And while certainly I can understand that point of view, I definitely do not agree with it.

Morally, I think it’s a Christian’s obligation to vote. I suppose I could understand a conscious objection to selecting the “lesser of two evils,” but I don’t personally see it that way. I’d cite James 4:17 to support my claim that a failure to vote would violate my own conscience.

And why? Well, consider the issues. If you think about it, we live in a country where you have a voice in whether or not your government will permit the taking of innocent life. And that can be applied to abortion, as well as capital punishment. We live in a country where you have a choice to decide whether or not your government will allow homosexuals to participate in the traditionally heterosexual institution of marriage. Those issues may or may not bother you, but I believe they affect me.

If I ever hear someone complaining about the direction America is going in, I ask “did you vote?” If there answer is no, I see virtually no reason for such an individual to continue complaining to me because they will not gain one single ounce of sympathy from me. If you don’t do something to stop moral erosion in this country, then you’ve essentially contributed to it yourself.

But for those who do vote based on moral conviction, I’d like to say that one of the things I enjoy most about election day is unity. When I go to the polls, there are Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, members of the Church of Christ, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Mormons that are voting for the same things I’m voting for. No matter what our doctrinal differences are, we are united in moral causes when we vote. And I like that.

I think it’s good that we can put aside the specific religious beliefs that divide us so we can come together on the very core moral principles of our faith. I hope you will join me in doing so during this election year.