“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” Ezekiel 16:49-50
I grew up thinking that Republicans were Christians, and deserved my vote across the board. As I’ve grown and learned about life and society and politics, my view has certainly changed. I now vote for issues over party, however my votes tend to always go Democrat. Although I’m hardly a poli-sci expert, I would like to explain why, as a practicing Christian, I vote the way I do.
#1 Care for the poor and needy
The Bible is ABUNDANTLY clear on how we, as a society, are supposed to handle the poor in our midst. As there are nearly 100 verses on caring for the poor in the Bible, I’ll spare you and just list a few:
- “Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.” – James 1:27 (The Message)
- “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:17
- “For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.” – Psalm 72:12-14
I could go on, but you get the point. While one could say that there are private services, and even churches, doing this work, I would argue that our society is too large and the need too great to rely on the selfless goodness of others. Using the government, which is already taking in taxes and providing far-reaching social programs, is practical.
As a Christian, I am told not to value money or store up personal wealth. The Bible is also ABUNDANTLY clear on that topic, with over 2,000 verses on money and possessions. So I am honestly OK with the thought of my money going toward keeping food on someone’s table, medical bills in check, etc etc. Democrats promote social programs and use public resources (taxes) for the greater good.
#2 Protecting the rights of all people
As a Christian, I believe that everyone is born a child of God, and that God loves that person with reckless abandon from day one, before they even open their eyes. Therefore, it makes me sad and angry to see the basic rights of children of God – when they identify as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, or queer – stripped away. Democrats do a far better job at protecting our LGBTQ brothers and sisters in the political sphere than the Republicans.
Romans 12:9-10 says “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” And John 13:34-35 instructs us, “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The church has grossly failed the LGBTQ community as a whole, at least from my Evangelical background, and there’s a whole entire post I could write about that. Suffice it to say, to demonstrate my love for God’s children, LGBTQ included, I vote for equal rights.
We still live in a racialized society, with racism even more public and widespread in the era of Trump. People of color are more likely to face police brutality, are more likely to be profiled, more likely to suffer at the hands of systemic racism that is currently built into the fabric of this country. Democrats are more likely to be concerned with racial equality, and have far greater minority representation within the party. I vote because Black Lives Matter.
3# Environmental Protection and Regulation
As a Christian, I believe that we are called to be good stewards of the Earth. “Steward” feels like an old-fashioned word these days, but essentially God tasked us to care for and protect his Creation.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” – Psalm 24:1
Billy Graham once said “of all people, Christians should be the most concerned for the environment.” However we see Republicans more concerned about protecting Big Industry and their bottom line than they are in looking after our planet. With the climate crisis upon us, I vote blue to protect this planet for my children.
#4 Valuing economic equality
Again, as a Christian, I have strong views on how we are to value money. The love of money is the root of all evil, according to the Bible. Not money itself, and I do believe that a person can be wealthy in a healthy, God-honoring way. But Democrats are more likely than Republicans to regulate Wall Street and to try to close the economic gap between the super wealthy and the lower class, thereby looking after the poor and the “least of these.”
#5 Pro life
- Pro refugee lives
- Pro immigrant lives
- Pro black lives
- Pro LGBTQ lives
- Pro gender equality
- Pro prisoner lives
- Ending the school to prison pipeline
- Stricter gun control measures to stop the epidemic of mass shootings
- Anti death penalty
- Anti abortion. However, I believe that making abortion illegal only makes it illegal, and hardly stops them from happening. I believe a better way to actually lower the amount of abortions happening is to focus on birth control, relevant sex-ed in school (states with abstinence only programs have higher teen pregnancies), and programs for low-income or single mothers.
All of this is to say why I, as a Christian, vote the way I do. I do not want to villianize Republicans or anyone who thinks differently than I do. Many of my close friends fall on the moderate-conservative end of the scale. My husband and I are friends with a woman who works in politics, sometimes at the national level, for Republicans. She is one of the most intelligent people I know, and I deeply respect her and her political views. People have different reasons for voting, or not voting, the way they do, and I don’t condemn anyone who doesn’t agree with me. I know politics are complicated, and the Democrats are hardly a shining, moral example of perfectly looking out for the downtrodden. I’m sure there are just as many corrupt Dems as there are Republicans. These are simply my main concerns, as an American Christian, and I think the Democratic platform as a whole aligns more closely with my Christian values.
God has a heart for justice, a love for ALL of God’s creation (whether they know and love God back or not), and the desire to bring us all into the best life possible. We live in a society where our vote and our actions and our words matter. While I do ultimately believe that God and goodness will preside over evil, it is still on us to actively work at bringing Heaven down to Earth.
As it says in the Psalms, “Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them – he remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”
If I have offended you, or you strongly disagree with me, PLEASE speak up in the comments or message me personally if we are friends IRL. I don’t hold onto any of my opinions with an iron fist and I’m always up for (healthy) debate. I think we’re all trying to figure out this beautiful, joyful, messy life together and we’re doing our best, even when we reach different conclusions.
This Joyful, Messy Life 