Beyond the "Christian" Voter Guide

You probably have political fatigue by now.

I don’t blame you. With less than a week until the 2024 United States election season is over(Lord, hear our prayer), most have made up their minds. We are done with the articles, interviews, commercials, emails, and texts urging us to vote in a particular way.

Maybe you’ve already voted and don’t want to give it another thought.

If that’s you, feel free to move along (though, I would love it if you bookmark this to consider later).

In the interest of transparency, my voting record for presidential elections looks like this: Bush, Bush, McCain, Romney, Third-party, Biden, and Harris. This article isn’t intended to persuade you to vote for my favorite candidate(s) even though I have a strong opinion on this.

Image by kp yamu Jayanath from Pixabay

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The Days of Voter Guides

When I was a kid, the Minnesota Family Council published a new voter’s guide with every major election. My church had stacks of them in the lobby. It wouldn’t overtly tell you who to vote for, but it didn’t take much work to figure out who they were pointing to as the “Christian” choice. Good church members would take these guides to their polling stations and vote accordingly.

I believe those many years of voter’s guides did us a profound disservice. We were discipled into outsourcing our decision-making to someone else. They offered some incomplete information on policies and politicians, and they didn’t encourage us to consider much beyond supporting what the current Republican party was about.

The message I received from every voter guide was that to best represent my faith, I needed to vote Republican. If you listened to my recent conversation with my husband, you know I’ve been thinking about this for the last 8+ years.

What does it look like to reflect my Christian faith with my vote?

What makes a politician or policy the right “Christian” one?

Can every political decision be distilled down to Christian v. non-Christian?

I’m open to being wrong on this, but here’s where I’ve landed-

I think it’s easy to over-spiritualize things that come down to personal preference. Not every political vote we cast has a clear Scripture reference or principle to guide us. I’ve been known to wrap my preferred politics in spiritual language because it’s much easier to claim to be right when God is on my side, but when I’m honest I have to admit I bring both my faith(and imperfect theology) and my personal preferences with me when it comes to politics.

Sometimes I like a person or a policy, not because of Jesus, but because it benefits me and I’m not always objective enough to tell the difference.

(screen grab from Minnesota Family Council 2024 Voter Guide)

A Different Kind of Voter Guide

A one-size-fits-all voter’s guide cannot tell us the right way to vote for every candidate and issue on our ballots. I’m arguing that a better voter guide doesn’t start with answers. It starts with these two questions:

1. How can I love God with all my heart, soul, and mind?

2. How can I love my neighbor?

I’m responsible for those two things.

How Does This Look Practically?

I’ve ditched the voter guide.

I’ve acknowledged that some things are clear right and wrong issues, but many aren’t.

I’ve admitted I like to claim my personal preferences are God’s best way.

With that in mind, how do I vote in a way that takes into consideration loving God and loving my neighbor?

I’ve written out a few questions and principles I find to be helpful. Here’s my list:

1. Party affiliation, alone, no longer decides my vote. (Loving God with my mind)

I’ve seen enough evidence to convince me that having a particular letter next to your name on a ballot doesn’t make you capable and worthy to be elected.¹ There is no “Christian” party.

Party affiliation has implications and should be considered, but I think Evangelical Christians(myself included) have given the letter “R” too much weight.

2. What am I afraid of and who told me to be afraid? (Loving God with my mind)

There is no small number of voters who make their choice, not because they are compelled to support a candidate, but because they are afraid of what would happen if their opponent wins (assuming we’re dealing with a two-party system).

Fear is a legitimate lens to bring with you to the voting booth. I’d just ask a couple follow-up questions: Who told you to be afraid and is that thing you’re afraid of based in reality?²

We don’t have to look very far to find fear-inducing accusations that aren’t true.³

Is what you’re afraid a candidate might do even something the job description allows?

People who want your vote know the motivating power of fear. We need to make sure we’re not being played.⁴

3. What is the job description of the person I’m voting for? What areas do they influence? (Loving God with my mind)

If you’re running for a position on the School Board, I don’t need to know your position on sales tax or abortion. If you’re running for Mayor of Spring Hill, TN, your ability to roller skate may be interesting, but it’s not helpful.

Too often I’ve let things that have nothing to do with the position the person is running for influence my vote.

Remember when we used to diagram sentences? We’d underline, label, and cross out words. What if you “crossed out” all the information that doesn’t apply to the job? What skills are left on the list?

4. If this person is an incumbent candidate, did they do the job they were hired to do in the previous term? (Loving God with my mind)

I wish there was an automatic process that would remove candidates after a term in which they spent more time on news shows, book tours, and speaking gigs than they spent working with their colleagues to accomplish something.

If the person did more grandstanding and drama-inciting than getting anything done, they don’t deserve your vote.

5. What might be the unintended consequences of voting for or against a policy/person? (Loving my neighbor)

The very definition of “unintended consequences” means we may miss something. If you’re willing to have a good-faith conversation with someone who sees issues differently than you do, ask them what you might be missing and listen.

You can find these perspectives in articles and interviews if you’re willing to look.

You might change your mind. You might not.

Is there a way my vote can support the issues I feel the most strongly about while also loving my neighbor? What does this looks like in regard to policies about the economy, immigration, preserving democracy. . .?

6. Consider what this place and time require. (Loving God with my mind and loving my neighbor)

The challenges facing your city, state, country, and the world in 2024 aren’t the same as those of past elections.

When I consider the challenges of 2024 and what we need in a President, I think about Ukraine and its need for support to defend itself against Putin.

I think about how volatile everything is in the Middle East.

I think about how important it is to have a Commander-In-Chief who is deliberate and capable.⁵

If I lived in a state that dealt with lots of crime and public safety issues, I would be voting for local officials whom I believed could help address that.⁶

This can’t possibly cover everything, but it’s a good start. This is my attempt to do the best I can with the information available to me and my limited understanding. I’m sure you could add things that I’ve missed.

In 2016, The Rabbit Room published A Liturgy for Election Day. Here’s an excerpt I find especially powerful:

“Give courage to us, oh Lord, as we act with scrutiny of word and deed toward those whose names are listed on our ballots, heard in our conversations, and spoken in our homes. Guide us as we separate what is good, beautiful, and true from the rubbish and noise of all that inevitably will come. Ignite in us the holy desire to carry out your work regardless of the outcome of this day.”

If there was ever a time to ask for guidance to separate what is good, beautiful, and true, from rubbish and noise, this is it.

— Amy

1. New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez resigns from Senate after bribery convictions | AP News

2. Fact check: Donald Trump, Kamala Harris debate on ABC News | CNN Politics

3. Fact check: Trump revives his lie that schools are secretly sending children for gender-affirming surgeries | CNN Politics

4. Got Fear? How Fear in our Politics Wins Votes

5. Seeing how easily it appears former President Trump is influenced by dangerous dictators is a huge concern for me Donald Trump's Intel Chief Suspected Putin's 'Blackmail': Bob Woodward - Newsweek

6. Oakland business owners go on strike amid crime spike, call for meeting with Gov. Newsom - ABC7 San Francisco