The Most Important Election in My Lifetime
By Ronald J. Sider
Recently, I was asked to speak in chapel at a Christian high school. So I told the students I wanted to talk about Christianity and politics. Why? Because I think the 2016 presidential election will be the most important one in my lifetime. (More on that later.)
Let me be clear. Politics is not the most important thing in life. Just being the church, living out day-by- day what it means to be a faithful disciple of Jesus is more important than politics. But politics is still important Politics in this election cycle has already proven to be exceedingly nasty, vicious, dishonest and depressing. So many good Christians conclude that we should just forget about politics. That, I believe, is a huge mistake for two reasons, one practical and one theological. First, it is a simple historical fact that political decisions have a huge impact – for good or bad – on the lives of billions of people. Think of the devastation and death the world might have avoided had German Christian voters not helped elect Hitler to public office. Think of the freedom, goodness and joy that followed for tens of millions from the fact that evangelical politician William Wilberforce labored for over 30 years and eventually persuaded his colleagues in the British parliament to outlaw first the slave trade and then slavery itself throughout the British Empire. It is through politics that country after country has come to enjoy democracy. It is through politics that nation after nation has stopped jailing and killing “heretics.” It is through politics that we develop laws that either restrict or permit widespread abortion, that either protect or weaken religious liberty, that either harm or empower the poor, and that either protect or destroy the environment.
Politics is simply too important to ignore.
The theological reason for political engagement is even more compelling. The central Christian confession is that Jesus is now Lord – Lord of the entire universe. The New Testament explicitly teaches that He is now “ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5). “All authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to the risen Jesus (Matt 28:18). Christians who know that must submit every corner of their lives to this wonderful Lord. Since we live in a democratic society where we have the freedom to vote, our vote – or even our failure to vote – shapes what happens in the important arena of politics. One way Christians must live out our belief that Christ is Lord, even of political life, is to think and pray for wisdom to act politically in ways that best reflect Christ our Lord. But that raises the question: How do we let Christ be Lord of our politics? Three things are important: We must have a biblically balanced agenda We need a passion for truth We need a passion for civility First, what do I mean by a biblically balanced agenda? If you want to be truly Christian in your politics, you need to ask: What does the Bible say God cares about? When we ask that question, it quickly becomes clear that the God of the Bible cares about both the sanctity of human life and economic justice (especially for the poor); about both marriage and peacemaking; about sexual integrity and racial justice and creation care. In January of this year, I spoke to a large conference of hundreds of Christians in Washington at an event called Evangelicals for Life. The conference was held to coincide with the annual March for Life which calls for an end to widespread abortion on demand. I explained that for many decades, I have believed and taught that Christians should act on the belief that from the moment of conception, we are dealing with persons—human beings made in the image of God. And for many decades, therefore, I have been a part of the movement to reduce abortion both by legislation and through supportive programs to assist unwed pregnant mothers. But over the years, I have also been disturbed by what seemed like a fundamental inconsistency in much of the pro-life movement. Those in this movement talked a lot about combating abortion, but often seemed unconcerned when poverty, starvation, smoking, environmental degradation, racism and capital punishment also destroyed lives of persons made in the image of God. It was not an entirely unfair characterization when some joker said it looked as if we believe that “life begins at conception and ends at birth.” It bothered me when I saw that some pro-life leaders opposed government funding to search for a cure so that people with AIDS would be able to live; it bothered me when an important pro-life senator fought to end abortion but then defended government subsidies for tobacco which destroys the lives of persons; it bothered me when pro-life advocates failed to support programs designed to reduce hunger and starvation and save the lives of millions around the world. I agree with Pope Francis who said, when he spoke to Congress last year, that Christian faith teaches “our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.” Because of global poverty, millions and millions of people die unnecessarily every year. Every single day, 18 thousand children under the age of five die—most of them from hunger and preventable diseases. That is comparable to 35 jumbo jets crashing every day. Many of them die of pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria which are easily treatable. But their poor parents and poor countries lack the resources to provide the inexpensive treatment. President George W. Bush launched, and President Obama continued, an historic program called PEPFAR which has saved the lives of millions of people who would have died from malaria or AIDS. But major politicians in recent years have called for dramatically cutting this kind of lifesaving program. Should not biblical Christians urge Congress to increase, not cut, effective governmental programs that reduce poverty and prevent unnecessary death? Smoking is also a pro-life issue. Smoking kills about 480,000 people in the U.S. every year. Around the world, the death toll from smoking rises to about 6 million each year. Environmental degradation is also a pro-life issue. Global warming, unless we act soon, will cause devastating climate change that will lead to the death of millions of poor people. Racism is also a pro-life issue. We all know how dreadfully true that has been in our history. White racism made it possible for us to enslave for centuries tens of millions of Africans made in the image of God. After slavery ended, thousands of lynchings murdered African-American men. Today, young black men are far more likely to be shot by white policemen than are young white men.
Capital punishment is a pro-life issue. I have never understood how killing a person guilty of killing another person is the best way to teach people not to kill and to respect the sanctity of human life. So if we want to be truly Christian in our politics, we cannot be oneissue voters. We must have a biblically balanced agenda that is pro-life and pro-poor, pro-family and pro-racial justice, pro-sexual integrity and propeace and pro-creation care. Second, Christian voters must have a passion for truth. Sadly, politicians often tell lies— half lies and whole lies. Christians know that God hates lies —and also that lying in politics is bad for democracy. So in this and every election season, Christians should insist on knowing the truth.
It is easy to go online to Politifact (who has won a Pulitzer prize) or to Factcheck. Responsible fact-checking organizations like these can quickly tell us whether what a politician says is true. And third, Christians should have a passion for civility as they engage in politics. Biblical faith calls us to respect every person, no matter how much we disagree with them, because every person is made in the image of God and is loved by God. Civility demands that we truly listen to those with whom we disagree so that we genuinely understand what they are saying. Civility refuses to use racist innuendo and does not encourage violence against opponents or their supporters.
We are privileged to live in a democracy where every person has a vote and the people (at least theoretically) can decide who will be our political leaders. But democracy works well only if citizens are informed and thoughtful and if politicians are honest and civil. Christians should demand honesty and civility from all politicians. And if politicians claim to be Christians, then we should be especially strong in condemning any dishonesty or lack of civility in their actions. So what does this mean in 2016? And why do I say this year’s presidential election is probably the most important in my lifetime? The answer is that the candidate who has dominated the Republican primaries and is now the presumptive Republican candidate for president lies, nurtures racism, violates our history of religious freedom for all, belittles women, supports torture and appeals to much of the worst in our society. Trump began his political career attacking the legitimacy (even questioning the citizenship) of our first black president. In this campaign, he has not so subtly appealed to white racists by not quickly disavowing the support of the Ku Klux Klan. Trump made insulting racist attacks on Mexicans and advocates mass deportation of all undocumented immigrants which would destroy millions of families. Trump has advocated an unconstitutional ban on all Muslim immigrants to the U.S. Trump has mocked women, made sexist (and disgusting) remarks about female reporters—this from a man who has publicly flaunted and boasted about cheating on his multiple wives. Trump has threatened to use torture techniques “far worse” than waterboarding against alleged terrorists and (contrary to U.S. and international law) threatened to kill their “family members, even their children.” In spite of all that, Donald Trump has won by far the most votes in the Republican primaries and is now positioned to be the Republican candidate for president. And millions of evangelicals— including a few prominent ones— have chosen to support him. Fortunately, a number of prominent evangelicals who are political conservatives have dared to condemn Trump’s actions. Bestselling evangelical author Max Lucado has never in the past endorsed or opposed a presidential candidate. But this spring, Lucado publicly condemned Trump, pointing out that since Trump claimed to be a Christian, his despicable actions would lead some non-Christians to reject the Christian faith. Lucado condemned Trump’s “antics,” saying that “such insensitivities wouldn’t even be acceptable for a middle school student body election.” Lucado said Trump’s belittling of women and people with disabilities is not the way Jesus taught us to speak. Especially astonishing to Lucado is the fact that in spite of his claim to be a Christian, Trump said publicly: “I’ve never asked God for forgiveness.” Russell Moore is a political conservative. He is the most prominent Southern Baptist voice in Washington and is president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. But in several op-eds in the New York Times, Moore has condemned Trump and urged evangelicals not to vote for him. Moore laments the fact that this election “has cast light on the darkness of pent-up nativism and bigotry all
over the country. There are not-socoded messages denouncing African Americans and immigrants; concern about racial justice and national unity is ridiculed as “political correctness.” Religious minorities are scapegoated for the sins of others, with basic religious freedom for them called into question.” Sadly, Moore noted, those who have criticized Trump’s vision for America “have faced threats and intimidation from the “alt-right” of white supremacists and nativists.” (Op-ed, May 6, 2016) Another prominent evangelical, Peter Wehner, who served in three Republican administrations and now is a senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, has expressed astonishment and dismay that fellow evangelicals like Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Pat Robertson are supporting Trump. Wehner noted in an op-ed in the New York Times that Trump “humiliated his first wife by conducting a very public affair” and at one time supported even partial birth abortion. Wehner condemned Trump as a “compulsive and unrepentant liar,” and said he has been “more erratic, unprincipled and proudly ignorant when it comes to public policy than perhaps any major presidential candidate in American history.” (Op-ed, March 1, 2016) Perhaps nothing underlines the extent of Trump’s incompetence, racism and belittling of women and Muslims as much as the fact that very prominent Republican politicians— Mitt Romney, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, the first and second Bush presidents—have publicly said they will not support Trump for president. In the past, my “completely prolife agenda” has always required a hard choice in presidential elections (and I have voted both Republican and Democratic). I usually felt that the Republican candidate was better on the issues of family, abortion and religious freedom and the Democratic candidate was better on economic and racial justice, poverty, peace and the environment. Again this year, the latter is true. But this year, on the first part, the apparent Republican candidate says he now opposes abortion although he formerly supported even the awful process of partial birth abortion. He models the opposite of responsible marriage and family and tramples upon our basic American principle of religious freedom for all. I believe Republican columnist David Brooks is right. This presidential election is a “Joe McCarthy moment.” I believe a Donald Trump presidency would seriously undermine much of what is best in American history, culture and life. Christian voters, I hope, will help us avoid that tragedy.
Ronald J. Sider is Distinguished Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry, and Public Policy at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University
