The Civic Duty of Voting
By George “Chip” Hammond
Election day is upon us again. Many Christian people have told me that they are weary of the political landscape, discouraged, disgusted, and ill-disposed to vote anymore. The days of anything like a “moral majority” are gone, and cannot be identified with any political party anymore (if every it could be), and the notion that “character counts” seems to have been long ago abandoned by candidates and voters. I get it. Christians are fed up.
It’s worth noting that God has set our time in history and the boundaries in which we live (Acts 17:26). In our context, “honoring the king” (1 Peter 2:17) must certainly include carrying out our civic duty, but how exactly to do so when consciences are so flayed?
Prescient for our time, in 1952 C.S. Lewis wrote, “Christianity had not, and does not profess to have a detailed political program ... It could not have. It is meant for all men at all times and the particular programme which is suited one place or time would not suite another.” Beware of the pastor who tells you how to vote, for he has no special knowledge of civic matter. Notes Lewis, “The clergy are those particular people within the whole Church who have been specially trained and set aside to look after what concerns us as creatures who are going to live forever.”
Lewis observes that the over-arching principal Christians should employ in their civic responsibilities is the Golden Rule, “Do as you would be done by” as he puts it. With that in view, there are at least three voting strategies that are harmonious with the Christian faith.
1. Vote for the candidates that most align with the “Do as you would be done by” philosophy. Be sure to research the candidates as well as you can, and not simply rely on their campaign literature, sycophantic supporting organizations, or slanted cable news sources. About twenty years ago I received a stack of “voter guides” to put in the bulletins. We had used this organization’s guides for about ten years. However, in this particular year the candidates’ positions on abortion (a question which always included before) was omitted. On investigation, it turned out that they had omitted it that year because the candidate they wanted to win was pro-choice, and they thought disclosing that fact to the Christian community might hurt his chances (it did – he wasn’t elected). Those guides went in the garbage can.
2. If there are two candidates and you don’t like either, it is not impermissible to vote for “the lesser of two evils” if you believe that one candidate would do harm to the Golden Rule principle, and the other candidate, while having many faults, would mitigate those harms (if only through not being able to get his or her agenda passed).
3. If there are two candidates and you believe that both would be a threat to the “Do as you would be done by” principle, you have several options. You can choose neither, and write in the name of a candidate that you can support. Chances of your write-in candidate winning are slim, but your conscience will be clear. You can also abstain from voting for a specific office. However, let me encourage you not just to skip voting altogether unless it is intentional and deliberate; don’t miss voting simply due to laziness or discouragement.
As hopeless as some of you have felt because of the times we live in and the current crop of candidates, let me encourage you to do your civic duty and seek to do good for the city we live in (see Jeremiah 29). We are strangers and aliens here (1 Peter 1), passing through to a city whose builder and architect is God (Hebrews 11:9-10). As we live now in exile in “Babylon” (1 Peter, Revelation), remember the promise that the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5) when our Lord returns and there is a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3, Revelation 21). In the meantime, let us do all we can to bless the city in which we live even as we invite people to flee the coming destruction and come with us to a Kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 11:28).
