Jim Wallis, Consistency, hypocrisy and the US presidential election, 2 Nov 2012.
I have been reflecting the last few days on what it means to have a religious viewpoint in Politics and of course specifically how Christians will be voting tomorrow. I have seen 2 'posters' being passed around on Facebook, both from Christian leaders but holding very different political positions. It's hard to not feel your religious values are being manipulated by those with the most to gain. I wanted to see what Jim Wallis, a respected Christian leader and political commentator had to say and after a quick google search found the article above. It is a good read and worth 5 minutes of your time - obviously after reading this!
Wallis says: "Many of us Christians are 'pro-life', but aren’t the nearly 20,000 children around the world who die every day of utterly preventable hunger and disease just as much a 'sanctity-of-life' issue as the approximately 3,000 abortions that occurred in our country today?" A sentiment that was the basis of one of those facebook posters. That being pro-life is surely not just a question of abortion and contraception, that is only birth. However, for many these are important issues and act as a compass for their value system. I can understand this, just like I can 'understand' their concerns over marriage etc (understand although perhaps not agree with). What Wallis is getting at though is that Jesus was about more than these 'moral/religious' issues that are so heavily played on in election season. He was about social justice, mercy and love for the poor, oppressed and lonely and he was also fervently concerned with these things 24/7, 360 days of the year. Does your faith determine your political ideology or vice versa? And which one if either motivates your daily living, your daily politics, your daily faith?
Wallis goes on to talk about Romney's following of the Mormon faith - something which has become a bit of an elephant in the room. I'm really glad he is willing to write about it and sensitively question whether there would have been such a theological shift (he uses the example of republican members and religious leaders removing negative stories and articles about Mormons from their websites etc) if the person concerned had been a Democrat. "Are our concerns really about religion and biblical values, or do they just reflect our ideological political preferences?"
I have been surprised that so many American Evangelicals have been willing to accept Romney's faith and that it hasn't been more of an issue in the campaign. In many ways a candidate's faith should not be a voting factor, what matters is how this faith affects their values and in turn their policy decisions. I wonder had Barack Obama, often labelled as a Muslim as well as that weird scandal about his previous minister, actually been a Muslim would he ever have been elected in the first place? Probably not, yet seemingly people can more closely identify with the values of a Mormon. I struggle with this and wonder to what extent Romney remains close to his Mormon traditions. Perhaps it would have little affect on his moral compass and Presidential style. In which case how was he chosen by the 'God is on our side' team?
Anyway before I get too controversial I will leave it with this: Wallis' article is about the too often witnessed hypocisy of the Christian Church, only emphasised during big elections. Whichever way you vote tomorrow or perhaps already have, or the way you wish you could, please be consistent with a worldview that stretches across all the issues and all areas of your life; privately, publicly and in those still moments alone with God lets all do our best to live truthfully. You can get that article here: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/
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