Christianity Today is one of the most liberal outlets posing as Christian. It has a particularly egregious history of recognizing the faith of Democrats, including Pete Buttigieg the homosexual, and Kamala Harris back in August. Several members of the organization Evangelicals For Harris are connected to Christianity Today. Evangelicals For Harris was founded to subvert the Evangelical voting bloc and has a lot of money backing it. However, it has been markedly unconvincing, compared to liberal Evangelicals like Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, and Rick Warren. Evangelicals For Harris does not pretend to be pro-life, unlike its predecessor Evangelicals For Biden.
Christianity Today recently published an article “Voting Is Important to Me. That’s Why, This Year, I Won’t Vote” in an apparent attempt at suppressing the Evangelical bloc.
I’m sympathetic. All my life, I’ve attended evangelical churches and called them home. I grew up with a message of “God, country, and family.” And I’ve always been conservative in both my theology and my politics. In most elections, I vote straight-ticket Republican, and voting is extremely important to me.
It’s precisely because voting is so important that I believe we need to thoughtfully evaluate calls to vote biblically and consider everything that can mean. Sometimes, given short-term political dynamics or the candidates available, declining to vote can be the best way to reflect our values and acknowledge the importance of an election. Sometimes, the right choice—and one way to conform our politics to Scripture—may be not voting, as new research suggests millions of American Christians are planning this fall.
The author is Robert Postic, an academic who dubiously claims to be a theologically orthodox Evangelical. Despite claiming to be conservative, Postic had no problem voting for overtly leftwing nominees, but Trump Derangement Syndrome set in.
The way we talk about voting in many predominantly white evangelical churches sends more than one message. In recent history, it has often been a thinly veiled encouragement to vote Republican. But it also sends the message that you must vote, that voting is an American duty and possibly even a Christian duty. Here I want to focus on that second claim about voting itself.
There is no biblical mandate to vote. That’s not to suggest that voting is somehow inconsistent with biblical teaching. God forbid! Choosing to vote in democratic elections and, more generally, to engage in peaceful civic participation is in alignment with virtually any reading of the Bible.
The problem is that many voters feel cross‑pressured. It’s not always obvious how we should vote. Sometimes, none of the viable candidates align with our core values—or even come close. This year, the Democratic presidential candidate holds positions I believe to be inconsistent with Scripture. But I also believe the Republican candidate lacks the requisite character to be president.
It’s interesting how Kamala’s character is not disqualifying. However, it is effeminate to weigh personality equally to policy, being irrational. Nevertheless, for Christians to not vote in the system of government that we have is to cede power to the pagans. Although I don’t see it quite as a sin to not vote, I do not see the wisdom in this strategy, particularly because there is no real strategy.
Some Christians in this position choose to vote for a third-party candidate. I respect that choice and agree that it’s much more important to vote for the candidate who best represents our values than it is to vote for someone who can win. Issues and character matter. But I also understand the political and legal realities in America that make it functionally impossible for third-party candidates to succeed. So rather than vote third party, I choose not to vote.
Postic’s repeated emphasis on “character” contains no positive examples of what good character looks like. So the reader is left to think that Kamala Harris has good character but terrible policy, while Trump has decent policy and untenable character. This is a laughable notion, as Harris’s policies are a direct reflection of her character. People are what they do. But even Trump’s worst character vice, incompetence, pales in comparison to bungling that Kamala is capable of.
But I believe how we get there is as important as where we arrive. “Winning the presidential election is vitally important,” James Dobson wrote in 2007, “but not at the expense of what we hold most dear.” I’m convinced character is a core value too. It’s equally part of what I “hold most dear” in politics—and not nearly so divisible from policy as many suggest. Without good character, the candidates we support may not even try to deliver the policy results they promise in exchange for our votes.
I understand the arguments for voting even when the viable choices are bad. I understand why some Christians believe it’s better to pick a side and push it to improve insofar as they can. My goal here is not to argue that all Christians should decide against voting. It is the more modest claim that in a binary election with choices like these, not voting may be the best way for many Christians to heed their consciences and the promptings of the Holy Spirit—even to “vote biblically.”
This article amounts to an attempt at voter suppression that won’t reach its intended target because Christianity Today caters to an audience far more liberal than most people who pretend to not be.
As for Kamala Harris, it does signal that in addition to not receiving the endorsement of the Washington Post, the banner of Russell Moore’s Christianity Today will neglect to support her cause. This is a sign of how badly Kamala Harris is campaigning as an attempt to coopt the Evangelical vote is failing, so they are resorting to suppression.
5 Responses
Question for you out of curiosity, what circumstances would need to arise in order for you to not vote?
Christianity Today aka today, Compromise today should be subtitled, Humanism today. Great article!! It is clear to me that the party of democracy is pushing socialism and the so called “inteligencia, refuse to be honest with the outcome of the policies being shoved down American’s throats. DJT, the mean tweet, President at least isn’t seeking to remove our freedoms, 1A and 2A, rights. It’s the pot calling the kettle black with the present administration.
A soviet style election where the choices are Yes/Maybe-Yes.
You can’t go anywhere in San Fransisco politics without endorsement of their perverted satanic majesties . . . From the Zodiac killer, to the Nightstalker, to Jonestown, it’s the same cult of bloodthirsty, psychotic devil worshipping nutjobs, and Kamal Hairyass was their district attorney . . . Let that sink in a little . . .
Twitter Headquarters was on Market Street in the gayest most perverted city in California, San Franshitsco (sic) . . . it is the festering fecal homeland of Nasty Pelousy, Gavin Newsome, Dianne Fiendstein, Willie Brown, and Kamal Hairyass, where Jew Howard Levey (a.k.a. Anton Lavey) started his gay Church of Satan . . . All the ‘big tech’ social media companies the feckless libertardians, clueless conservatives, and pugnacious progressives complain about, are right there in San Franshitsco.
Willie Brown, former speaker of the California assembly, mayor of San Francisco, compared Jim Jones to Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. Dianne Feinstein joined the rest of the San Francisco board of supervisors in honoring Jones “in recognition of his guidance and inspiration” in furthering “humanitarian programs.” Jerry Brown, California governor actually spoke at Peoples Temple. George Moscone, who owed his position as mayor of San Francisco to Jones, appointed Jones to San Francisco’s Housing Authority Commission, where he quickly became chairman.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/satanism-is-a-jewish-cult
Funny how these same ‘christians’, notice no caps, are saying Trump ‘doesn’t even come close’. So they will fiercely defend Israel as God’s chosen people (debatable among very godly people) and has a right to their sovereignty. But America under Trump does not. What are Trump’s core values? Sovereignty, Freedom including Religious, Economy, Fair Trade, protecting his citizens. Hmmm, NOT Christian enough for CT. These are simply Democrats disguising. Matt Chandler, a mentor to me and still is, also bailed out. Hated on Dems a bit, but oh Trump? He doesn’t trust him. Someone who did exactly as he campaigned, despite both sides running ambush on his presidency. Everything I loved? No. Clot shots were and are horrible. Millions dead and will continue to die slowly. Trump, I hope will renounce if he wins. But again, the race isn’t even close for Christians. The greatest tool in this race is deceit. Most mainline Christians and other citizens watch daily media. Who lie daily. I’m astonished. Examples? Russia- hoax. Very fine people- hoax. Soldiers are suckers and loser- hoax. He grabbed the wheel of the limo- hoax. J6 insurrection- hoax. But ‘God’s’ people still indulge. Proverbs and Solomon had a lot to say. And the church, I’m not going to comment if they are ‘of Christ’, fall prey every day. Very sad. Then there’s the ones who claim Trump supporters worship him. Ok. The most contrasting policy differences in history. We don’t want children mutilated, trafficked, abused, and we want perpetrators to face justice. We want secure borders. Freedom of religion. Don’t force toxic chemicals on us. WORSHIP!!!! Yep. Good job church. We worship Trump. The Bride of Christ should be ashamed. Trump is NOT our savior. He’s a very good choice for President- and NOT a true Christian. And that’s perfectly OK. The church is making themselves fools. And God is not mocked.