What Would Jesus Vote?



"I don't know. Ask my mother!"

What would Jesus vote? Now this is a conversation that needs to take place.

Politics…still a religious issue, two thousand years since the second temple and the Sadducees.

How is politics connected to religion? I mean, in America anyway, there is complete separation of Church and state.

I wonder if that isn’t the problem.

I don’t understand.

Politics is about the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. I can’t imagine any other process that is in greater need of moral standards, and a commitment to justice, pursuit of the greater good, and compassion for those in need. American jurisprudence has done itself and the American people a great disservice by separating religion and politics because many people cannot find a moral compass without a religious goal so to remove religious leaders from the conversation may be tantamount to removing moral values.

Well, actually, religion plays a tremendously powerful role in American policy making. But only one camp in the religious community has power and that is the fundamentalist, Protestant work-ethic, Prosperity Gospel preaching, right to life (for the unborn but not those sentenced to death in the legal system, members of non-Christian religions, or nations who have natural resources we want to take) Christian Right. And they truly believe they are the only ones who are right.

So where is the separation then?

Maybe it is a separation between politics and papists that they are really concerned about. But let’s get to the issue at hand. What would Jesus vote?

Isn’t one of the issues you have with the religious right that they assume their answer is the only truth?

Yes.

Well, how would it be if I were to tell people how to vote? Everybody must exercise their own best judgments and consider their own most important values, and they must decide when to compromise and what to compromise about. I cannot, and should not tell anyone how to vote.

So what do we do?

You make the effort to learn about each candidate; you decide on your moral principles and prioritize your values.

Tough.

If you care about your family and your children's future you will make the effort.