So what was the religious message of the mid-term elections?
That may sound like a strange question, but it isn’t strange at all for a person of faith.
That’s because people of faith cannot separate their faith from their politics, at least if that relationship is properly understood.
Indeed, I would say that anyone who is religious, but separates faith from politics is being hypocritical.
Not only can faith shape the political views of religious people, it should. Here’s how it works.
Political candidates tell us they will do certain things if elected. They may not keep their promise, but our votes for them are based on our agreement with what they say they will do. And that agreement is rooted in our religious beliefs.
So every religious voter in North Carolina, for example, who helped elect Thom Tillis as their U.S. Senator said by their vote that they believe voter restrictions intended to make it harder for minorities, students, and the elderly to vote are morally right because Tillis was a major leader in getting that law passed.
Every religious voter in Kansas who helped re-elect Governor Sam Brownback said by their vote that they believe the for-profit healthcare system that determines who gets medical treatment on the basis of the ability to pay is morally justified because Brownback supports that system and opposes Obamacare.
Every religious voter in Texas who helped elect Greg Abbott as governor said by their vote that they believe it is morally right to make the poorest women in their state drive hours for cancer screening because the clinic in their area that included abortion services was closed by a law Abbott supported.
Everybody votes on the basis of what they believe. For people of faith our votes are based on what we believe about God. In the deepest sense, for us voting is a sacred act.
So the religious message of the mid-term elections was this: For sincerely religious voters, who we supported was a public statement about our values and political beliefs precisely because of our religious convictions.
But that’s not the end of the story. Other issues remain: (1) How do we know if religious people actually reflect the best of their faith in the way they vote? (2) As a religious person how do you vote when you agree with some things a candidate says and not others? (3) Religious beliefs are not just personal because they influence our political decisions, and that is why they matter.
These topics will be the subject of upcoming Blogs.
