Why the Election is a Spiritual Event

Millions of Americans are headed to the polls today all across America to exercise our privilege of choosing a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. I am not under patriotic illusions that the people have as much say in things as we like to believe, but on this day, all of the media manipulations, posturing, corruption, and lies takes a back seat. On this day, the American people get to walk into a voting booth and choose.  We vote our values, our hopes, our fears, and our own personal agendas and preferences. Much has gone into forming our opinions. Billions of dollars have been spent on campaigns, ads, and the political machine that stretches into every crevice of life in America. But, today, the people step past all of that and do what our Founders intended. We get to vote.

I have maintained for sometime that politics is actually spiritual, that it is an arena like marriage, relationships, our families, work, and our communities where people express what they beleive about life and how one can best live.  In our vote, we attempt to throw our allegiance behind a particular worldview and vision of the future.  Perhaps we are trying to mitigate some real or imagined evil or deal with some problem that we fear is getting out of control.  Candidates run on the premise that they can represent our hopes and allay our fears and we invest them with that authority.  It is all spiritual because almost everything that we hope for and fear finds its root in the human condition and our reconciliation or separation from God - whether we know it or not.

I am convinced that every person on the planet asks four questions:

1. Who/What is God or Ultimate Reality?
2. Who is Man and what is our purpose?
3. What has gone wrong with the world?
4. How do we fix it?

These four questions form the basis for every world religion and and social and political movement.  The Political process in America is simply a secular version of this attempt to find meaning, assess what is wrong, and to fix it.  But, if it fills the role of religion for many (and all that you have to do is look at the political rallies and the intense hope that people place in getting their candidate elected) then it must spring from a spiritual desire for connection, safety, security, and a hopeful future.  I think that we bring many of our spiritual longings to the political process and we open ourselves up for discussion of spiritual matters when we talk about politics and what we are going to do to address the problems of the world.  Many people today will be expressing their most basic hope and confidence today as they vote.

As a Christian, I know that it is important that I fulfill my civic duty of participating in this conversation. However, I know that it does not provide me with the answers I seek.  There is no savior in Washington. What ails us will not be fixed in Congress. We can participate in representing Christian ethics and values as we stand for justice and truth - and we should do that. But, we must recognize that while we are stand prophetically and point to Truth, that it will often be rejected because the carnal man cannot accept the things of God.  While we prophetically tell the truth and stand for justice and righteousness and seek to protect the weak and vulnerable, we must also recognize that the real salvation that we are looking for can only be found in Christ. We live in the land "in-between" as ambassadors and witnesses to another Kingdom - a Kingdom of Heaven that touches earth through how we live and act and through the way we tell a different kind of story.

Vote. Pray. Engage in dialogue. Love your neighbor as yourself and put his interests above your own. And, always point to Christ, through whom the whole creation is being reconciled back to God.

Comments

[G Alen]

Some number of years from now, let’s say 10, maybe 15 years, we will look back on gay rights in the very same way that we currently look upon the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. Today, when we speak of the civil rights movement, most all Americans of any color and religion speak toward our nations’ history of slavery and oppression of African Americans as an embarrassing and dark period of American history.

I think our nation has once more arrived at the issue of civil rights, equality, and equal treatment under the law. Prior to and during the civil rights movement of the 1960’s we witnessed how opposition to the African American race was rooted in religious principles. No other argument of the day compared to the many religious arguments that were meant to justify the denial of equal rights and equal treatment under the law. Nearly 50 year later I suspect it would be hard to find anyone in the “Church” who would defend those religious arguments. And now I wonder why the “Church” and the evangelical segment of American society would use nearly the very same religious argument to oppose gay rights as they had used to oppose rights for African Americans.

I believe that as a nation we will soon get past this latest episode of equality under the law. I believe that gay and lesbian rights will eventually be achieved and I believe that some number of years from now, we will look back at gay rights and same sex marriage in the very same manner that we now view the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. My question is this. If we now believe that racism and bigotry was wrong then and if we now believe that religious principles that opposed civil rights were complete bullshit, then why are you evangelicals repeating your mistake? Why are you evangelicals and the “church” espousing the very same arguments to deny equal rights and equal protection under the law to homosexuals? What was a faulty reason then is still a faulty reason today.

[Alan Cross]

For one thing, to compare the Civil Rights struggle of Blacks to the fight for gay rights is a non sequitur. Most Blacks that I have read on this issue reject the comparison.

For another thing, I have no desire to deny anyone equal rights under the law. If one believes, as I do and as our Scriptures clearly state, that the very definition of marriage is that it is an inviolable bond between a man and a woman, then we are simply against the changing of the institution of marriage to include other arrangements. I am also against no-fault divorce laws and divorce in general, but that is probably not within your scope or interest. Water has a definition. Sand has a definition. You cannot just call a rock "water" or a piece of wood, "sand" and expect me to go along with you like you are being honest with the definition of the words. Marriage is not "two people who love one another, whoever they may be." By definition, it involves a one man and one woman. Otherwise, what keeps us from changing the definition back to polygamy or bigamy or open marriages with 4 or 5 people? We both agree with defining terms and you probably have your limit where you would draw the line. But, what do you base your definition on? Or, do you base it on anything at all? If you did not agree that a man could have 5 or 6 wives or a bisexual woman could have both a husband and a wife, would I then be correct to call you a hate-filled bigot? No. I would simply recognize that you have a certain set of standards based on some kind of value and I would respect that. My values on this issue come from my religious beliefs and I would hope that you would respect that as well. We can disagree and still do so peacefully, I would think.

So, I have no desire to deny anyone their civil rights under the law. But, I also have no desire to redefine social institutions that have existed since the dawn of civilization, especially the ones that are endemic to my faith. I imagine that you feel the same way about some things.

But, what happens on this is not really my call. If the State wants to redefine marriage, it has the right to do so. As a Christian, I will object to the expanded definition but I will not seek to discriminate against anyone. I have predicted since the late 1990's that gay marriage would eventually be the law of the land. I think it is inevitable because of the posture of our country on issues like this. So, as a Christian, my role is to try and be faithful to God in the midst of a culture that has another agenda on this issue.

[Jessy @ Car boot liners UK]

Yes, we have faced into a huge surviving risk, which has no future determinations. The principal behind this is lack of management of the government sector and the political party, they are just trying to catch the sky… voting has become a namesake tradition nowadays.