To Vote or Note to Vote: The Question of Christian Witness In the Public Square

 

A number of years ago a collection of essays recommended that Christians seriously consider the option of not voting. I am revisiting these essays.  My recommendation had been that the Church vote, but do so in a uniquely Christian way. When a follower of Jesus votes for a political candidate (whether it be a Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent), I argued, it should be as an act of witness.  This vote as witness needed clarification, for in various ways the “witnessing vote” was a reticent vote.  It could never be a decision as to which candidate the voter can endorse one hundred percent. Now the situation is such that I am wondering whether or not I can vote at all in the presidential election.  I am wondering if fidelity to "votng as witness" now means not voting. 

It is true that the believer ought to confess that every politician and every political system on this side of the new creation is flawed and tainted. So where the Christian can vote in good conscience, he or she cannot cast an unreserved vote; this, too, would equal being taken captive by the powers. By its very nature this reserved voting is a witness to “better things,” to the  “world to come,” which the New Testament promises.  But sometimes the political situation has decayed to the point where just voting would be evidence of being taken captive by the powers.  Are we facing such a situation in 2016? The question should at least be asked.

The vote as witness, where possible, needed to be a qualified vote because the Christian was only voting for that which could be faithfully celebrated in the candidate’s character and platform (not for the entire character and platform). Part of his or her witness was to make this clear: in acknowledging the candidate’s or the party’s flaws, the Christian bore witness to the broken human condition. But what if the character is so flawed, and so unChristian, that there is little left to celebrate?  How can we vote for a person who claims to represent Christians, but exhibits the spirit of an antichrist?  Do we take the mark of the beast?

I have admitted, in the past, that voting "as witness" was a difficult way to vote, for the voter’s reticence was not directly reflected in the ballot count. What made the voting reticent was mostly an acknowledgement in the believer’s own mind that the “vote” was just a vote, and not a “bowing of the knee.” This reticence was first known in the Christian’s own heart, and that mattered immensely. At the public level, it demanded that the believer actively participate in grassroots political conversation to make this “witnessing vote” clear. But more importantly it demanded that the Christian’s whole life reflect a message of political reservation. His or her vote was counter-intuitive to the usual way of politics: it could never be triumphant (no pun intended!).  But perhaps today such political reservation must lead us to NOT vote for a presidential candidate at all, but focus instead on other political activity, where one's conscience is not sold out.  

So the restrained way in which a Christian votes, or now does not vote, is still both a witness to the political system’s imperfection and a witness to God’s impending righteous reign. Such reticent about voting is a witness because its very standoffishness speaks of confidence in another citizenship, in another sovereign. The Church’s hope ultimately lies in a different Candidate-Elect!  He is the only one who can fully bring justice and peace to a broken world. 

While the Christian takes seriously his or her vote, or now the decision not to vote, its significance is not to be exaggerated. This would betray the witness. More important than the “vote” is the Spirit’s bringing of the kingdom, however provisionally and proleptically, through the mission of the Church. So the Christian intentionally, and in the community of faith, seeks other and better ways of concretely modeling kingdom life, of manifesting in seed form the culture of the world to come. The Church’s “vote (or no vote) as witness” proclaims that she still waits for the kingdom whose builder and maker is God.   

Such an orientation of voting as witness leads the Christian to a unique set of criteria for voting.  For example, the criteria we use to make a judgment about mildly better or worse consequence must be in terms of God's special provision for the poor and oppressed.  That is, our criteria are not fundamentally about what will make my life better or America stronger or protect the middle class, but which policies are more or less likely to provide some measure of care for those who are unable to care for themselves. Determining the consequences of a vote can be notoriously difficult; but the criteria are clear. Today the very emphasis on "making America great again" is totally out of step with these criteria. 

There is a final “witness” inherent in the Christian’s voting practice: he or she votes, or does not vote, deliberately and intentionally, but also penitently, bearing witness to his or her own finite and fallen condition – and likely failure of good judgment. The Christian must vote or decide not to vote; the Christian in so doing acts, and faithfully participates in what ways he or she can in the political process. All the while the Church should bear witness to the grace that heals society’s sickness (even the political one) and atones for people’s sin (even the sin of a poorly cast ballot; or the potential sin of refraining from casting a ballot at all). So the Christian acts, believing that God may be pleased to use his or her humble act of faith to make a difference for good. The Church’s “vote as witness” points to the coming Kingdom of Christ, but it also acts responsibly to make a difference now, whether by actually voting, or by withholding a vote. 

When the believer can in good conscience participate in the political process, he or she votes to bear witness to God’s grace and to the full hope that can finally and only be found in the good news of Jesus Christ.  And when the time is such, that any vote would deny the gospel, the believer does not vote, and in that way still bears witness to the Lord of all the earth.