Category: Michael D
Voting?
Politics and voting are delicate issues for ministers that serve mainline Christian congregations. I say mainline because there are some ministers and some brands of Christian witness, even in mainline settings, that wear it as a badge of honor to speak out against “liberal” ideas or leaning politicians. Here in Oklahoma the majority of candidates are trying to “out-conservative” each other. I’ve often wondered if it was time for religion to give up its 5013c status and participate fully in the political process rather than the hide and seek game that is played today. Ministers need to maintain the ability to be present (minister) to all persons no matter their politics, but our culture, and Christendom, is making that harder with each passing day. The good news of God that Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed is more socialism than capitalism, more community than individual consumerism. Jim Wallis said it best, “God is not a Republican nor a Democrat.”(1)
On Tuesday citizens will go to the polls again, at least those allowed to vote, and in theory choose persons as representatives to state and federal government leadership. Some of the candidates believe government can effective positive change and outcomes for citizens. That does require good will and trust. Some candidates want government to only do what is specifically outlined in the constitution which, like most religious texts, needs exegesis and interpretation for our context. It is a murky process today, and maybe it was a century ago before the Internet and a Supreme Court that allowed unlimited campaign contributions that birthed the Super-Pacs that have flooded my TV and radio, and yours, with campaign ads by groups that are not from my state. I don’t know what voting and campaigning was like a century ago. I do know what is happening now. Our first African American President was overwhelmingly voted into office, twice. Congress does not represent our country’s aspirations for Presidential leadership nor the diversity of our nation.
Here is an article from a peer and colleague in ministry that is a good example of how ministers can approach politics and voting in their congregations as dialogue. Real quality words Irreverin!
Your Faith-Based Voter Guide
Erin Wathen | Patheos.comWe don’t want to be the people whose faith is dictated by politics, and we don’t want to be mistaken for ‘those people,’ either. We want to be the people whose politics are shaped by our faith… The people who live so deeply rooted in the gospel, that the way we vote is just one more expression of our deep love for God and neighbor.
Vote your hope, not your fear.
Reject the myth of scarcity.
Love thy neighbor’s kid as thine own.
Think past the foreseeable future.
Visit the article to read more and see the details of the faith based voter guide.
Was President Obama too optimistic about the willingness of politicians to put their Country above their Party? Can he be faulted for not addressing the passive racism that has allowed the Congress to do nothing during his tenure as POTUS except malign the office of the Presidency? Has he not managed the message and vision well of what a 21st century America can be? I think the answer is yes to all. President Obama has not had partners on the Republican side willing to govern with him unless the Republican party got exactly everything they want, the way they wanted it, thank you very much.
As you read this you may be thinking, this guy is a Democrat. Nope, I’m a registered Independent and more importantly I’m a disenfranchised voter, and so are you, because we’ve become a country that has accepted the notion that one political party “reigning” is the only way to get anything done or to make significant changes to what “governing” means. We are disenfranchised because we’ve allowed congressional redistricting to redraw our nation into voting blocks rather than diverse communities. We’ve blessed the dysfunction rather than confront it as if we are watching an episode of Survivor.
So, I suggest to those that claim any faith or no faith at all, keep the “faith-based voter guide” in mind when you vote tomorrow, and in the future, as a way to keep faith in the potential goodness of humanity of which our Nation’s founders must have believed.
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Note
1. Jim Wallis, God’s Politics: Why the Right Get’s It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It.
Words from Wednesday
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love theLord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead,and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. [Deut 6:4-9, NRSV]
God’s things . . .
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s. ”When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. (Matt 22:15-22, NRSV)
“. . . it does raise the provocative and still relevant question: What belongs to God, and what belongs to Caesar? And what if Caesar is Hitler, or apartheid, or communism, or global capitalism? What is to be the attitude of Christians toward domination systems, whether ancient or modern?”