One View of Faithful Voting

Here is an article expressing faith that the 'faithful will vote their values' next Tuesday. This view of the 'faithful' is much more expansive than we commonly hear in political discourse- in other words, not merely the religious right.


The Faithful Will Vote for American Values
by Bob Edgar

Much is being made of values in the run-up to the November midterm elections. Many are talking about fundamental values, not a litmus test that passes for values. Stem cells and same-sex marriage are taking a back seat to honesty, integrity, truth and justice, the closer we get to election day. "Who can you trust" is being asked more than whether a candidate believes the same way I do.

As Americans in 2006 look at their elected representatives, they are asking similar questions as voters did 32 years ago. Are we being told the truth about a foreign war where our young men and women are dying? Can I live on what I make or do I have to look for a second job to make ends meet? Can I afford to put gasoline in my car?

This majority of faithful Americans, I predict, will vote in large numbers Tuesday. They are tired of one side or the other claiming to have God on their side and forcing a narrow, mean-spirited, divisive agenda on the rest of the country.

I believe these faithful Americans are standing up for the basic moral value of justice for God's creation. They want alternative-energy sources, not only for national security, but because global warming threatens God's planet that we've been given to care for.

The religious right, many of whom are merely modern day Pharisees, too often dominate the debate of 'faithful voting.' There is a much broader spectrum of issues that our nation faces to simply allow the 'Big Three' (abortion, stem cells, and gay marriage) to dominate all discussion of Jesus' Politics.

Furthermore, too much of the discussion from the Religious Right lacks integrity. Who can turly claim to be pro-life, but not asks questions about the morality of the war in Iraq? Who can truly claim to be pro-family when disengenuously blaming gay marriage for the 'destruction of marriage' (as if 1/2 of all American marriages end in divorce because one or both partners turns gay)?

The Religious Left, too, often lacks integrity. Just as the Religous Right sells its soul to the Republican party, supporting economic policies, for example, that are incompatible with the Gospel in order to get support from politicians for their agendas on abortion and gay marriage, the Religious Left too often does the same. The Religious Left sublimates their religious values, secularizing them because the Democratic party does not welcome religious 'talk'. Consequently, the Religious Left robs some of their arguments of their power, and makes it impossible for themselves to challenge the Democratic part on other issues (what are the Democrats truly doing to, as they say they wish, make abortions safe, legal, but rare?). The Religious Left, as a result of secularizing themselves to fit in with the Democrats, too often fall into the trap of challenging the legitimacy of the Religious Rights arguments (on religous grounds), and thus make it impossible for they themselves to raise religious arguments from their perspectives on the Gospel.

The chasm between the Religious Right and Left needs to be bridged for Purple Churches to be created.

I fear I am not as hopeful as the author cited above.

GP