Thoughts on Political Engagement

Posted on July 4, 2024 Posted By: Mitch Bedzyk Categories: Christian Living

An election year is, once again, upon us. It is a presidential election which will undoubtedly be referred to as the “most important of our lifetimes.” Anxiety and animosity, fear and frenzy, slander and suspicion are already the air we breathe, the water in which we swim. But things seem to get turned up to eleven when it comes time for campaigning and voting. So, we have compiled a few select resources that we have found helpful in navigating our political moment as well as provided some reflections on politics, political engagement, and the voting booth.

A helpful resource on political engagement

A Christian Guide to Political Engagement (PDF)

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention has produced a very helpful Christian Guide to Political Engagement. This is a resource written in the style of a catechism as a starting point for believers to consider how we ought to think about politics as exiles who belong to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son and believe that Jesus is Lord (Col. 1:13; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 12:22). This guide provides a very helpful set of moral principles to help triage our moral concerns as we approach the voting booth:

Christians should aspire to vote for the candidate or platform that they believe best pursues and approximates biblical righteousness and biblical justice in their policies and character.
Christians should avoid willfully and knowingly voting for candidates or platforms that undermine first-tier creation-order issues that include the dignity and nature of human life, support for the natural family, and the ability to exercise one’s faith.
Christians can conscientiously abstain from voting or vote for an alternate candidate if neither candidate or platform satisfies criteria 1 and 2.

This catechism is also a guide for how Christians should live every day not spent in a voting booth as well: “Our political participation should not be boiled down to a vote cast on one day, important as that vote may be. Politics is about life in community with others, and those relationships exist even when candidates aren’t vying for our votes, donations, and attention.”

Reflections on politics, voting, and the church

Here are a few of our own reflections:

The hope for our nation is not political—if by political you mean whether Republicans or Democrats run the country. The mess we are in requires a different kind of political solution: the gospel of the kingdom of God. The gospel is an inherently political message because it announces the lordship of Jesus, and we believe it is the proclamation of the gospel and the work of the Spirit in and through the church that brings true transformation, life, healing, and hope to the nations. As Peter Leithart puts it, “What happens in worship is more critical to the world’s future than what happens in the ballot box, the legislative chamber, the courtroom, the classroom, or the living room.”¹ It may be cliché to say this, but the hope for our nation is not a donkey or an elephant but the Lion and the Lamb.

No earthly political system will ever deliver on all its promises to produce the perfect society. If you believe what the Bible teaches about the total depravity and radical corruption of mankind, then you should know that even your preferred, “perfect”, and precious political party is part of the problem. The reality is that neither political party has a truly, thoroughly, and consistently biblical platform. Both parties (yes, both) and their nominees are quasi-religious at best and downright idolatrous at worst. We must taper our expectations about what our political parties can achieve and not put our eggs in a blue or red basket. Furthermore, no political figure will ever be an earthly messiah. Anyone who hails a particular candidate as God’s messiah, his “anointed one,” is preaching heresy and guilty of blasphemy against the Lord and his Anointed, his only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not put our trust in princes (Ps. 146:3).

You are not obligated to vote for the “lesser of two evils.” It is becoming increasingly clear that both political parties have gradually become more corrupt and more concerned with winning elections than upholding biblical justice and defending first-tier creation-order issues. Of course, not all platforms and administrations are morally equal, but as we are seeing with the GOP softening its stance on abortion and same-sex marriage in its new 2024 platform, it is not guaranteed that one platform will actually be marginally better. In times like these it is good to remember that Christians are not required to vote for any particular candidate or even vote at all. With a choice between Babylon and Egypt, we have no obligation to pick either. It may be the case that the most brave and biblical thing Christians can do is not play the pragmatic and consequentialist game. There is a very compelling case to be made for voting third party or abstaining to vote in times like these, which Joe Carter calls “convictional inaction.”

Political engagement must not be our greatest concern or ultimate hope. Yes, vote according to a conscience informed by Scripture; yes, stay informed about and involved in politics (especially at the local level); yes, seek the welfare of the city where we are in exile and pray to our God on its behalf (Jer. 29:7). But devote your entire life to proclaiming and portraying Christ, and practicing the habits of grace (Acts 2:42). Reprioritize your commitments to your local contexts: your family, church, and community. Pursue justice right where you are by treating your neighbors according to the righteous character of God—with love, patience, fairness, and truth. And set your hope on the King who will one day put the world to rights. Doing these things will up us stay sane in an election year.

Don’t buy the political hype and frenzy of mainstream and social media. Virtually everything reported on mainstream and social media today is meant to cause fear and/or outrage. Ignore the sensationalism. The good news is that the word of God is not bound by politics or public policy. The church will thrive in times of peace and prosperity as well as a culture of utter chaos and moral bankruptcy. Even if our nation continues to face God’s judgment for its wicked rebellion and idolatry; even if we continue to have corrupt, inept, immoral, ungodly, and unqualified political leaders from both sides of the aisle, we can still rejoice! We can still have hope that our gospel labor is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:56-58). In fact, in the darkest of times, the church will only shine brighter as the light of the world. For Christians, it’s a win-win.

Furthermore, social media is NOT the place for constructive political engagement. As we have written elsewhere, social media, by their very design, predispose us toward certain behaviors, amplify problems, and form us in ways that are predominantly unfitting for citizens of heaven and antithetical to the gospel. Therefore, our political discourse (as well as theological discourse and any other complicated and potentially triggering discourse) should be in person as often as possible (cf. Rom. 1:11-12; 1 Thess. 2:17; 2 Jn. 12).

Christians must embrace a biblical posture toward their governing authorities, regardless of who they are. Yes, there may come a time for civil disobedience because of our allegiance to Jesus Christ, but even then, “let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (Eph. 4:31; cf. Col. 3:8). Each election cycle gives us an opportunity to show our divided nation what it looks like to be Christians who are citizens of a better and more lasting kingdom (Phil. 3:20), who aren’t tossed about by the winds of partisan politics, who are filled with the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), who pray for our leaders rather than slander them (1 Tim. 2:1-4), and whose hope is not in princes (Ps. 146:3-5).

We must strive to cultivate Christian charity. It’s easy today in our increasingly polarized world to cancel people based on what our favorite preachers or podcasters say. There’s no time for nuance anymore, and far too often the church is guilty of friendly fire rather than bearing with one another. In times like these it would do us well to remember Paul’s letter to the Colossians:

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful (Colossians 3:12-15).

To make matters worse, as the world becomes more hostile to Christians, we may feel like it’s time for the gloves to come off in our fight against the world. Gone are the days of being winsome, of being respectful, gentle, kind, and patient. But this flies in the face of what the Apostle Peter says:

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander….Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation…. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people (1 Peter 2:1, 11-12, 15).

No matter how bad the world gets, no matter how hostile or polarized our world becomes, we are not exempt from the ethical teaching and expectations of the New Testament. We must strive to cultivate Christian charity. In other words, let’s remember that we are first and foremost citizens of heaven, citizens of the new Jerusalem, and let that guide our political engagement as exiles living among the cities of men.