Politics and voting are delicate issues for ministers that serve mainline Christian congregations. \u00a0I 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. \u00a0Here 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. \u00a0Ministers 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. \u00a0The good news of God that Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed is more socialism than capitalism, more community than individual consumerism. \u00a0Jim Wallis said it best, “God is not a Republican nor a Democrat.”(1)<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0Some of the candidates believe government can effective positive change and outcomes for citizens. \u00a0That does require good will and trust. \u00a0Some 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. \u00a0It 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\u00a0birthed the Super-Pacs that have flooded my TV and radio, and yours, with campaign ads by groups that are not from my state. \u00a0I don’t know what voting and campaigning was like a century ago. \u00a0I do know what is happening now. \u00a0Our first African American President was overwhelmingly voted into office, twice. \u00a0Congress does not represent our country’s aspirations for Presidential leadership nor the diversity of our nation.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0Real quality words Irreverin!<\/p>\n
Your Faith-Based Voter Guide<\/a>
\nErin Wathen | Patheos.com<\/p>\nWe don\u2019t want to be the people whose faith is dictated by politics, and we don\u2019t want to be mistaken for \u2018those people,\u2019 either. We want <\/i>to be the people whose politics are shaped by our faith\u2026 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.<\/p>\n
Vote your hope, not your fear.<\/p>\n
Reject the myth of scarcity.<\/p>\n
Love thy neighbor’s kid as thine own.<\/p>\n
Think past the foreseeable future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Visit the article to read more and see the details of the faith based voter guide.<\/p>\n
Was President Obama too optimistic about the willingness of politicians to put their Country above their Party? \u00a0Can he be faulted for not addressing\u00a0the 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? \u00a0I 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.<\/p>\n
As you read this you may be thinking, this guy is a Democrat. \u00a0Nope, 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. \u00a0We are disenfranchised because we’ve allowed congressional redistricting to redraw our nation into voting blocks rather than diverse communities. \u00a0We’ve blessed the dysfunction rather than confront it as if we are watching an episode of Survivor.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
____
\nNote<\/p>\n1. Jim Wallis,\u00a0God’s Politics: Why the Right Get’s It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Politics and voting are delicate issues for ministers that serve mainline Christian congregations. \u00a0I 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. \u00a0Here in Oklahoma the majority of candidates… Continue Reading Voting?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-michael-d","radius"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4byX4-voting","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1293"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1298,"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293\/revisions\/1298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davisonsdoodle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}