Politics & Christianity

With political ads on every other commercial, yard signs, candidate phone calls, and slick junk mail, we are reminded that the November elections are just around the corner.

How does our Christian faith relate to the privilege of having the opportunity to vote? Should our Christian witness influence how we vote? If Christians vote based on their faith, then why do some Christians vote one way and other Christians vote the opposite way?

I've heard some Christians claim that unless you vote for a particular political party, you're not really a Christian who upholds the bible. It's my understanding that our country is unique in that a majority of Christians believe that if you are truly a Christian, you will vote a certain way on each and every issue. Christians in other democratic countries tend to allow for a wider umbrella of differences of opinion even regarding the more controversial issues. That's unfortunately not the case here in America.

Regardless of your position on abortion, I have trouble with Christian bumper stickers that try to simplify such a complex issue with one line or phrase. Any intelligent dialogue/debate on such a topic would reveal the many complications and gray issues that surround this issue. Again, it's fine to take a strong stance on this issue, but it's not fine to ignore case by case situations that require discernment and continued prayer on what is the most judicial response in the context of our Christian faith.

If we think about the bible, there are several checks and balances and tensions on various issues that confirm that God's people will not always agree. Depending on the historical time period, the circumstances of the biblical passage, and the intended audience, interpreting the scriptures is not as simple as we might think, but who ever said that our faith is supposed to be a spoon fed faith? So we have the graphic and violent conquest of the people who once inhabited the holy land. Does this mean that today, we can take from others if we believe that God wants us to have land or power?

In the New Testament, we find the early Christian wrestling over the issue of what is required of a Jewish person before becoming a Christian? Do they have to be circumcised? Do they have to follow certain kosher laws? Notice that this issue isn't settled so easily. It first required discernment, debate, and even a heated argument between Paul and Peter!

Over the centuries, the church has relied on prayerful discernment on various issues. So, in the United Methodist Church, we have The Book of Resolutions which is edited every four years by 1,000 representatives (half clergy and half lay) to serve as guidelines for United Methodists in our discernment process regarding over 300 issues.

The Book of Resolutions is a guide to help us know what 1,000 people decided upon after a lot of prayer, study, debate, and discernment. If we don't like the conclusions of the 1,000 people who represent the United Methodist Church, that's fine, but my point is that we shouldn't ignore it.

We've all noticed that our political landscape is becoming more and more polarized year after year, to the point where issues create such a reaction, that the debate can't even get off the ground. Instead of continuing the conversation, the debate ends and we quit listening to each other.

Christians have fed into this polarization through the proof texting of selected verses and by taking shortcuts in the discernment process as if the bible is simply an encyclopedia listing all the questions with the "right" answers. I'm always amazed at how much of the biblical canon is in narrative form which often shows the tensions of various perspectives on important issues related to God's people.

This doesn't mean that this process won't lead us to take strong stances. But it does mean that since we looked at all sides, we will be a whole lot more understanding of people with differing perspectives. And we certainly won't jump to the conclusion that he or she isn't a Christian based on their stance.