Faith and the Election

Now that the two political conventions are complete, our nation turns its eyes toward electing the next leader of the free world. But what kind of leader shall we choose?

The year Senators Obama and McCain were running for the presidency my congregation in Colorado teamed up with the League of Women Voters, a notoriously non-partisan organization, to host a series of conversations for the community called "Faith and the Election." The ground rules were simple: one person would share the ethical values and principles that guided her or his perspective on the evening's topic and then the person from the other party would do the same. Responses were exchanged and then written questions from the audience were presented, having been adjudicated by the women of the League prior to handing them to me, the Moderator.

What struck me during our series of four "conversations" was that both presenters and audience seemed more comfortable "thinking politically" rather than theologically, ethically or spiritually. That is, folks seemed to parrot (insert media outlet here) more than Jesus or Paul, Moses or Micah. This experience has stayed with me the last eight years as I continue to hear folks struggle to connect their faith to the public realm in meaningful ways.

Now some of you reading this blog may be thinking, "Brad, please, stay out of politics!" If you are thinking this, please know my concerns are rooted and grounded in our Reformed faith that views God as Sovereign in love, "the earth is the Lord's (Psalm 24:1), which means we are responsible to live our faith in the public realm. The question is: how?

My invitation to you, Dear Reader, is this: I invite you to write a brief statement of one way your faith informs you this election season. I will publish each statement I receive at bradmunroe1963@gmail.com. Please know, however, there are certain ground rules to our little game:

1. No Naming a candidate or party affiliation by name!

2. Keep your statements to 50 words or less.

3. Vitriol (in either direction) will not be published.

Examples of what I have in mind are things like, "Jeremiah 22:16 says...therefore, I am inspired to care about...." Or, "In Matthew 5:9 Jesus says… therefore I appreciate candidates who support...." Or, Kant's categorical imperative suggests to me...." Or…well, you get the idea.

How do you bring YOUR faith into the election booth? What ethical principles energize your convictions? In what ways does your being a Jesus follower lead you to choose one direction rather than another?

Praying for our nation’s conversation,

Brad Munroe