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Christians should vote for their faith

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Christians should vote for their faith

Phil Williams
| Author

In one of those too-weird-to-be-true-but-true moments, Kamala Harris criticized Christians everywhere. At one of her recent rallies, a young man shouted, “Jesus is Lord,” causing her to give a snide look and respond, “Oh, I think you came to the wrong rally.”

Encouraged by the derisive laughter of her supporters, she continued: “I think you wanted to go to the smaller rally down the street.” The audience howled and laughed. She looked so proud.

Reality set in when the story went viral. In one fell swoop, Harris told Christian voters that their religious views were not welcome in her camp. Misinterpretation? You decide. I have.

Christians around the world should take notice of how their faith is either honored or abused in politics.

While serving in the Alabama Senate, I frequently sponsored pro-life bills. I have been accused more than once of the vile crime of mixing my faith with politics. – Say it’s not so, Phil! You haven’t behaved like a Christian in the political sphere, have you?!” Well, I hope I did!

More: Harris shamefully panders to black men | PHIL WILLIAMS

I was not elected to be less than I am. I ran as a conservative, a patriot, and an unabashed believer in Christ. If my faith makes me who I am, I would be a hypocrite if I left it at home.

Dr. Ben Carson recently chaired the Alabama Policy Institute’s annual dinner and shared his thoughts on faith in the public arena. “They say there are two things we should never talk about in public: politics and religion,” Carson said. “But those are the two things we have to talk about because that’s where we get attacked.” I would add that we absolutely must talk about them together: Faith AND politics.

Truth and common sense come together when we say that we must reconcile our faith with our politics. Vote for our faith. Vote with faith. Pray for our candidates. Pray for our stewardship.

Christians everywhere should unapologetically mix their religious values, traditions and principles with their politics. In the absence of Christian voices in the public arena, the vacuum will be filled by those who believe the exact opposite, even those who would ridicule and disable us from living our Christian worldview.

Christians should care about who makes and enforces the laws that govern our country. Everything is very simple: either we, Christians, talk about our faith, or those who do not believe will talk about our faith. I’d rather it was us rather than them.

Despite the freedom to talk about faith, a recent study by pollster George Barna found that, inexplicably, 32 million self-identified church-going Christians are expected to skip this election. For one reason or another, they simply will not make it to the elections.

68% of them said it was due to a “lack of interest in politics and elections.” It’s just not their bag…it just doesn’t grab their attention…it’s just not their bag.

Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries, recently opined that voting does not mean knowing all the candidates or all the issues. He laid out a very brief set of principles that Christians can weigh in on, including “constitutional principles” such as “life, liberty (and) property,” because those are “the three things the Constitution says it is designed to provide.”

He elaborated by saying that when a Christian strives to know everything, he can at least lean on the question: “Which candidate for any office will be most likely to reduce the evils that are going on around life, liberty and property?” ? … This will help me make a decision.”

Myers is right. It’s not about knowing everything about politics. It’s about being a good steward of this nation.

We have been entrusted with a nation that gives us great freedom, including freedom of religion. If we as believers abdicate our role as stewards by setting aside our right to vote for a faith-based worldview, we are no better than the unfaithful servant in Matthew 25 who took the resources given to him by his master and buried them in the ground instead in order to invest. them wisely. He just sat on it. He did nothing to advance the cause.

More: Secretary of the Interior Mayorkas is a glaring example of “failure” | PHIL WILLIAMS

Managing what is entrusted to us is not only demanded, but expected. What are we going to do with this country that was given to us? Will Christians take bold action to grow and shepherd it? Will people of faith be good stewards of America? Or will we sit on our haunches and wait to see what happens?

I don’t want to be the one who realizes that I missed an opportunity to empower our country, increase our power, and protect life, liberty, and property.

The Christian faith is not based on works. I suppose so. Salvation is provided through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. However, there are two parts to being a Christian: making Him Savior and making Him Lord of our lives.

Salvation is guaranteed, but dominion is our witness. James 2:18 (NASB) tells us that faith and works go hand in hand, providing a visual reminder to the world of what we believe. “But someone may well say: “You have faith, but I have works; show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith in my works.”

Voting is work. Sometimes Christians need to be Christians in a real and practical way.

Faith and politics go hand in hand. Arise, Christians. Get busy, go to the polls and vote for your faith. Vote as if your faith depends on it. Your ability to openly practice your faith without fear of loss of life, liberty, or property is, in fact, just that.

Phil Williams is a former state senator from District 10 (which includes Etowah County), a retired Army colonel and combat veteran, and a practicing attorney. He previously headed the Alabama Policy Institute in Birmingham. He currently hosts the conservative news talk show Rightside Radio on several North Alabama stations. The opinions expressed are his own.