The Importance of Voting as an Engaged Christian by soojin park
If I asked you to choose what is more important between protecting the family unit and protecting the rights of women, what would you say? What about unborn lives versus the lives of minorities? Do you value individual responsibility or place importance in systemic responsibility? America’s two-party system has naturally forced us to think of issues in binary terms. There’s a line drawn between what is deemed “progressive” and what is deemed “conservative.” As people become increasingly polarized and lean towards the extremes, this division becomes more and more pronounced. But Christians should not engage in politics in this dangerously partisan way because no one political party can fully encompass all of our convictions and beliefs. Let’s go back to the questions I posed. As a Christian who values all life made in the image of God and all institutions designed by God, I should not have to choose between unborn lives and lives of minorities. As a Christian who understands sin to be pervasive in both individuals and human-made systems, I should see how both individuals and systems hold responsibility for so14
cial issues. But a highly divisive political system forces us to pit equally Biblical and equally important values against each other. Both the left and the right support values and policies that are in line with Scripture. And yet both also support values and policies that are against Scripture. So I cannot fully support one party’s platform or the other because neither party is fully Biblical.
No Perfect Political Party
Does this mean I just disengage altogether because I cannot fully support one party? I don’t think so. I believe we are called to bring about the flourishing of our cities and one way to do that is by fulfilling our civic duties. It does, however, mean that we engage and vote with a Biblical framework instead of the secular, partisan framework presented to us. It means we do not allow the parties to prioritize our values for us and we choose to do civic work holistically, unbound by party lines. Does all of this mean I cannot support one party and vote for one of the major parties? No, we as Christians can be affiliated with a party and can vote Republican
