5 Questions: A Non-Manipulative Voting Guide for Christians

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Five Questions

A Non-Manipulative Voting Guide for Christians

Note to the Reader Voting is a tender issue for many Americans, including many Christians. One of the ways it causes spiritual harm is by intentionally placing moral pressure, a moral burden, on citizens that fits the interests of political candidates, parties and activists, but does not fit the nature of politics.

It is not that politics is unimportant or that we should not feel any moral pressure when we consider civic action. Rather, the nature of the moral burden we are so often made to feel—the shape of it—is ill-fitting. It is a burden shaped and cast down in a way that is manipulative. A way that is coercive.

Our political system exacerbates the problem. Because our parties are so polarized and party identity is so profound, we find that politicians and political parties have inordinate influence over the views of the citizenry. We have invested such meaning into what a political party is and what it means to affiliate with one, not because of the nature of a political party, but because of what is in the interest of political parties and other political actors who benefit from them. That is to say: political parties demand our allegiance not because it is their right, but because it is in their interest. We should be members of a political party because we believe things; we should not believe things because we are members of a political party.

In general, political campaigns operate by piecing together a coalition of voters, drawn in by a tailored political platform, outreach, and forms of affinity that will allow them to get to 50 percent of the vote plus one. That is the political mandate of an electoral campaign.

These are the motives of parties and candidates. These are the tools at their disposal for pursuing their objectives. We should be aware of them. This is not to make us cynical but rather to ensure we’re all talking the same language. Candidates seek to frame your choice about the vote in ways that are advantageous to them, but their frame should not necessarily be your frame.

Political actors, in general, wish to convey that the choice you have as a voter is easy, and they try to raise the moral stakes of making that choice correctly—that is, in their favor. The more easily voters cede their conscience and values to the party or the candidate, the less strain it puts on the party or candidate and the easier their jobs will be. If parties and candidates are brands we identify with rather than a representation of shared deliberation, we can be directed far more easily. What political actors need is our will, and the more malleable our will, the better it is for them.

Here is the thing we must understand: we often think about politics as a forum for self expression and self-actualization, for the exertion of our personal will, but politics, especially voting, rarely even approaches that because political decisions come to us premediated and multivariable. When we vote in an election, with the exception of a write-in ballot, we are not voting for our dream candidate.

Our vote is not an unmediated expression of our identity; instead, our vote is a choice between options we did not choose ourselves. Viewing our vote as an unmediated, pure expression of our will can be debilitating.

Instead, our vote should be directed toward the greatest flourishing of our community. Our vote should be inclined toward the good of our neighbors, as best as we can see it, in consultation with Scripture, Christian tradition, fellow Christians, and our neighbors themselves. We take our vote seriously, but we also recognize we are part of a body politic and we see voting for what it is. And we understand that in all but the rarest of circumstances—and we should be hesitant to suggest in an unequivocal manner what the exceptions are—there is no single Christian way to vote.

Perhaps if we didn’t treat politics like one more commercial enterprise that must be branded —like so many product advertisements that saturate our lives—as a way to express our identity or achieve personal status or improvement; perhaps if we treated political life as a limited but vital area of responsibility for citizens that derives its importance not from how it makes us feel but from the dignity of the people who are affected by political decisions; perhaps then we’d see more people who are willing not just to vote but also to participate in politics in an other-centered way.

These questions are intended to serve as a non-manipulative guide to help you do just that: to help you position your vote within the flow of the life you are living with and under the Lord.

I would encourage you to bring the decision about your vote to the Lord in the context of community, considering your own experiences along with the needs of your community, and seek to steward the responsibility you have been given in a way that expresses your goodwill toward your neighbors.

The following pages contain five questions I believe Christians should ask themselves as they head to the voting booth this November and in subsequent elections. These are not the only questions you should ask yourself before you vote, but we offer them as an alternative to the anxiety-ridden, fear-driven rhetoric around elections that tends either to dissuade people from voting or sends them to the polls for all of the wrong reasons.

We aim not for political uniformity among Christians, but a spiritual integrity. May God use the time you spend with this guide to help you in that pursuit.

Michael Wear President and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life This introduction has been adapted from The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life.

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Question 1 What are you passionate about?

Let’s start here. An elected official makes hundreds, even thousands, of decisions directly and indirectly (through staff) each day. We should consider the full sweep of positions a candidate holds, and actions a candidate might take in office, to the best of our ability.

However, it is natural and acceptable to also consider the experiences you have had and the passions God has placed on your heart, and how those align with the candidates on the ballot and the offices they seek.

Our political process benefits from people who bring their hearts to bear on that process.

You do not have to leave your passions outside the voting booth. Nor do you have to be ashamed that your passions are not the same as those of others. In fact, you should be wary of anyone who tries to tell you otherwise!

Because there is no algorithm by which you can determine the “right vote,” it can be valuable to consider your own life and experiences, the political issues you really care and know something about, and how the candidates seek to address those issues.

Your experiences and passions often have political implications. And our politics needs people who are passionate about issues and who use what they have learned to influence our political process.

So ask yourself, what are you passionate about?

2 Question 2

How would the candidates meet your needs?

I wondered whether to include this question, because if there is one political incentive that is consistent for all involved in politics, it is to prioritize (or seem to prioritize) the needs of each individual voter. If a politician could, he or she would campaign in the hearts of each individual voter alone and ensure that no two voters ever spoke to each other to share what they had heard. The technology for “heart campaigning” has not been developed yet, but direct mail and data-directed, targeted digital campaigning, as well as other tactics, do increasingly allow candidates to tell voters exactly what they want to hear.

For this reason, I am hesitant to emphasize voting based on self-interest. Yet the basic fact remains that your vote is your vote. No one else is going to vote for you. And I have found that by gaining clarity on our own self-interest, we also gain clarity about how the interests of others might run counter to our own, and can then gain a greater appreciation for the complexities of governing and a conception of the common good that is not just a valorized rearticulation of our own self-interest.

So think about how government currently affects you and what you’ll need in the years ahead.

• Is work/family balance going to be important to you?

• How about taxes and regulations affecting small businesses?

• Or how the government supports elder care?

These questions, and others like them, can help you identify the ways government policies intersect with your life, and how you and those close to you may be personally affected by political outcomes.

How would the candidates meet your needs?

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How will the candidates meet the needs of your community?

Some people believe a vote based solely on self-interest is not only acceptable, but even expected. Representative government, they would suggest, is merely the expression of each individual’s self-interest. Some people think we cannot expect voters to consider anything else. But self-interest is more complicated than we might think, and it should be less central than we too easily accept.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was right when he spoke of the “web of mutuality” that binds us, that makes the interests of others our own interests too. In a profound way, the question of how government will serve your needs is dependent on how it will serve the needs of those around you. For example, if you own a retail business, your success is not just influenced by how the government regulates your business, but also by how the government’s actions affect the ability of the members of your community to buy your product.

Beyond and more important than a broader notion of self-interest, Christians have the opportunity, and even the responsibility, to break out of self-serving political engagement.

Our faith gives us resources to consider the welfare of our neighbors in ways our fellow citizens might not be able to do.

Ask yourself these kinds of questions: • Are your neighbors struggling right now?

• Is crime ravaging areas of your city or state?

• Are children receiving a subpar education simply because of where they live?

• Is the foster care system in your county filled with children waiting for adoption?

These are questions you can ask and seek answer to in the context of community. Get to know your neighbors, as well as those in your community who might face different challenges than you do. Seek the expertise and insights of elected officials, journalists, nonprofits and other community voices about the needs your community faces.

Politics should be a forum for Christians to express their love for their neighbors. Government can either perpetuate injustice, or it can be a partner in furthering justice. While others pursue naked self-interest in politics, you can be someone who considers the good of your community, all of your community, when you head to the voting booth.

How will the candidates meet the needs of your community?

4 Question 4

How will the candidates affect our culture?

Politics are about more than just statistics and policy outcomes. Politics are a primary shaper of our culture. When we vote, we need to consider not just the policies a candidate is promoting, but the candidate’s character and the kind of nation that candidate envisions.

We cannot rationalize away as insignificant the spiritual and cultural effects of politics. It is not a secondary matter to care about the tone and tenor of a candidate’s rhetoric, about that candidate’s tendency to stoke fear or divide Americans, or willingness to wallow in trivialities and self-aggrandizement. As our politics take up more and more of our public space— something we should reflect upon and, perhaps, discourage—the cultural aspects of politics are increasingly relevant.

Ask these questions about the candidate: • Do the candidates call their voters to a mindset of scarcity or compassion?

• Do they inspire fear or hope?

• Do they promote the profane or the decent?

As much as our politics represents us, the culture in which we raise our kids takes many of its cues from our politics.

How will the candidates affect our culture?

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If your vote determines the outcome of the election, would you regret how you voted?

Voting is an act of conscience among options limited by the democratic process. As a voter, it is critical to keep in mind both clauses in that sentence. Voting is both an “act of conscience” and one “limited by the democratic process.”

Christians too often speak about our political choices as if God is unaware of how our political system works, as if Jesus is confused by the state of our politics. Spoiler alert: He’s not. Jesus grasps the contours of our politics better than any political scientist out there.

When you vote, you are choosing between options that resulted from a process outside of your total control. You are responsible for your vote, but your vote is contingent on an array of factors as well as the nature of our political system itself. Your responsibility lies in undertaking a sincere process of discernment, led by prayer, perhaps using the questions I have suggested here, along with others.

When you vote for a candidate, you are not signing over your conscience to every action that candidate takes or every position that candidate holds. That is not what a vote means. You should hold whoever is in office, whether you voted for that person or not, accountable according to what you believe to be right. That elected official represents everyone in that city, district, state, or country, not just those people whose votes he or she received. Nor does your vote obligate you to silence on areas where you disagree with that official.

Again, your vote not a pure, unmediated expression of your will. Your vote might be the least personally expressive political action you can take. We don’t vote to express our deepest desires or identity: those aren’t on the ballot. We seek to steward our vote in a way that reflects what we have imperfectly concluded would be best for our neighbors.

So when you head to the polls this November ask, if your vote were the only one that mattered, would you regret how you cast it?

More Resources Your vote should not be a reactive, emotional response, but rather an act of civic responsibility. Your vote should also be an expression of your love of God, your neighbor, and your desire to see your community flourish. Your vote can and should be informed by who you are and what you care about. Politics will change when those who are disappointed with it decide to get involved.

You can make a true difference, and our politics needs you. Check out these ways to get involved as we move into election season:

Listen to the For the Good of the Public Podcast Listen to the latest episode of the For the Good of the Public podcast, where you will hear insightful and inspiring content from our 2023 summit.

Read The Spirit of our Politics Read CCPL’s President’s latest book and discover a new paradigm of political involvement rooted in the teachings of Jesus.

Download a free discussion guide at ccpubliclife.org/book to discuss the book with your church, small group, or community.

Tune In to The Morning Five Podcast Join us every morning Monday-Thursday at The Morning Five podcast to hear a brief overview of the top political stories of the day and pray over the news.

Make a Donation to CCPL We have a growing community of supporters who believe Christianity has much to contribute to our politics and public life.

Would you join us?

About the Center for Christianity and Public Life Established in 2022, the Center for Christianity and Public Life is a nonpartisan nonprofit in Washington, D.C. with the mission to contend for the credibility of Christian resources in public life, for the public good. We advance our mission through two streams of work: Christian Civic Formation and Public Influence.

Our work is grounded in the conviction that spiritual formation is central to civic renewal. As Christians, we cannot sell what we do not have, and we cannot offer a life we are not living ourselves. In a frantic, anxious public square, CCPL advances a model of joyful confidence in Jesus, which opens up possibilities for a more gentle, just, and other-centered politics and culture.

ccpubliclife.com @ccpubliclife