Call it a straw man argument or a false dilemma of sorts, either way it’s fallacious and cliche. But it’s time to debunk the myth that Christian Conservatives who vote [Conservative] Republican or passionately engage in political discourse on issues pertinent to our time in history are merely followers of the GOP and not authentic followers of Jesus. Confusing political leadership with messianic figures is definitely not the domain of conservative evangelicals.
Because Christians may prefer the moral or fiscal policies of particular political parties or leaders, it does not logically follow that they are blindly committed or even solely committed to the work of the political realm, erroneously believing that’s where culture shifts occur. In fact, an honest look would reveal that political parties reflect their constituency (for the most part), not the other way around. For the average citizen, their interest is to support leaders whose worldview best, though imperfectly, reflects their own. Of course, there are the cases where some have supported candidates whose moral philosophy might seriously conflict with their own in certain areas, but this is because in their moral hierarchy, some issues have achieved a primacy that dictates another direction of support. Ultimately, no on is going to support a candidate they reject–no one does that–but some find other reasons to support candidates they would might otherwise reject on other grounds. The “lesser of two evils” approach of voting exemplifies what this well and is not the exclusive domain of liberals or conservatives.
The reason I find this issue of particular importance is because I’ve observed in the statements of some faith writers the assumption that some Christians who are outspoken conservatives who don’t vote Democrat are not truly followers of Jesus but simply parroting the views of political conservatism. One writer recently stated on Twitter: “I…follow Jesus. I don’t follow the GOP.”
There is a significant amount of information that prompted this statement of which I have no access, but what was available is sufficient for this discussion as evidenced by this statement from another following her tweet,
It’s sad when people confuse their patriotism or political affiliations with their religion.
I ask, rather rhetorically, how it is possible for our spiritual commitments and our political philosophy to have no relationship. It’s virtually impossible to separate our moral views grounded in scripture from our moral views as we hope to see them realized in the political realm, no matter how hard anyone tries. Again–the political realm merely reflects the values of culture, it doesn’t ground the views of the culture it represents. The moral values as expressed by a candidate are intended to draw in a like-minded constituency.
While I’m quite sure there are many claim Christ who desire political sophistication over an influential biblical moral framework, I venture to say there aren’t as many who equate love for country with love for God as some would like to suggest. In the popular spirit of open-mindedness, perhaps their love for God manifests in a passionate defense for biblical positions that have become part of public dialogue. Pro-life, fiscal conservatives who are concerned with the status of the Constitution and their freedom of religious practice are motivated not by a GOP led by those interested only in retaining power and influence, but by a worldview that says all life is to be valued from the moment of conception to natural death and that we should be responsible with our financial resources. Of course, the Bible gives no spiritual authority to the Constitution, yet scripture clearly communicates God’s involvement in the realm of government in that in his sovereignty he has appointed civil leaders (Rom 13:1) and asks the Church to lift these leaders in prayer (1 Tim 2:1). God hasn’t removed his hand from the civil realm, he remains sovereign over all areas of society, not just the church and our families. And no biblical mandate can be found that asks Christians to quietly exit the public square.
No doubt we are in sin when we believe politics is the quick-fix for all that ails society. Sometimes we hold up our political representatives too high and forget to pray for them, choose not to pray for them, or idolize them. We have to guard ourselves that we aren’t tempted to an ungodly, skewed view of our relationship to government and civic leaders. But politically/theologically conservative Christians ought not feel intimidated by those who utilize straw man arguments created to assign guilt to those who are immovably pro-life and happen to vote Republican because the Democrat party platform refuses to protect the most vulnerable who are not yet born. This isn’t to say that there is no interest among liberals to help those in need, we need not assign complete indifference to those who advocate for neighbor love for other vulnerable segments of American society.
So are you a political conservative who loves Jesus who tends to vote Republican? We need to be guided by the will of God, infusing the truth of Scripture into our hearts and lives. We must keep the Gospel at the center of our interest in seeing lives restored to a relationship with Christ. But loving God and loving our neighbor does not necessitate a disengagement from the world of ideas. This is a myth intended to diminish the influence of an uncompromising biblical worldview. On this, the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the law that legalized the death of babies with no capacity to save themselves, now is not the time to cave to intimidation, but to stand more firmly in and for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).