Doctrine Slots

You can choose an article from the menu below.

How to vote Christianly

Written by Warrick Martin
Date added: 5/2005

How to vote?

Just four days to go until the election. It seems to have come round so fast! Question is, ‘who do we want to run the country?’

Well, over the next few minutes, hopefully I can give you a few ideas that might help you use your vote wisely as a Christian. But, can I just say from the outset, that I’ve got no intention of telling you who to vote for. Where you put that cross on the ballot sheet is a decision for you to make yourselves, before God.

Of course, up and down the country, the issue isn’t just ‘how we’ll vote’, but ‘whether we can be bothered to vote at all?’ (I guess the cartoon summarises how many feel.)

So, as Christians, does it matter whether we vote or not? Well, yes it does. Voting is an act of faithful discipleship. It’s also a way of loving our neighbours. And it reflects wise stewardship of God’s creation.

Voting, then, is our biblical duty. And we need to do it Christianly. As Paul explains in Philippians 3, we’re dual-citizens of this earthly kingdom and of God’s heavenly kingdom. And so we should seek to see God’s will done on earth as it is in Heaven. What will that mean as we come to the ballot box?

Obviously, the first thing to say about voting is we should approach it prayerfully:

- So pray that God would give us wisdom in our decision.


- That those elected would use the authority God’s given them in a way that honours him.

- And let’s be thankful to God that we can vote! (I’m sure those in China would love to have that privilege.)

Also, we must be thoughtful & reflective when we vote.

Some would argue that it’s possible to be committed to one party. Others, however, suggest that we can’t be ideologically attached to a particular party.

You know, we can’t say ‘I’m labour’ or ‘I’m Conservative’ simply because that’s how we’ve always voted. Or, because our parents vote that way. (I know that’s something I’ve been guilty of that in the past.)

Instead, we should approach the ballot box with an open mind. And vote for whoever we believe most promotes God’s priorities at this time. Whatever our position, it’s worth reflecting on…

- What are the issues that God thinks we should be most concerned about? And what do the main parties say about them?

- If we can, let’s find out what our local candidates think about them, too. After all, they’ll represent us in Parliament – and they’ll have the most influence on our immediate neighbours. There’s still time to drop them a quick email to see where they stand.

So we need to be prayerful and reflective when we vote. And we need to think Christianly, too. But how do we do that? Well, here’s 3 things that I’ve found helpful on how to cast my vote.


☻ How to vote Christianly
First…

☻ Vote for the good of others
If we’re to model Christ, we need to lift our eyes off ourselves and consider those marginalised by society. The poor; the homeless; the elderly; asylum seekers… How are the parties proposing to care for them?

On May 5th, let’s not just think about who will benefit us most, but also those who enjoy a lot less comfort than we do. Second…

☻ Vote for the good of the country
Now we can’t impose a Christian lifestyle on our world, but the health of our society will be promoted by living the way that God’s designed.

- Therefore we’ll want to think about how parties approach ethical issues like abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research.

- Their attitudes towards marriage and family.

- Homosexuality; do they support an increase in gambling? What are their policies on drugs and alcohol? Third…

☻ Vote for the good of the gospel
As Christians, we’re to live for the salvation of others. Therefore, a concern for the advancement of the gospel should govern who we vote for.

So, we should seriously consider issues like the incitement to religious hatred bill. And what the parties are proposing in terms of religious broadcasting and religious education.


Now, that all sounds fine in theory. But what about in practice? It maybe we’re weighing up sanctity of life issues with other gospel issues. So how do we prioritise?

Well, I think the grid you’ve got on your programmes, and that’ll appear on the screen, is quite useful in putting things together. So let’s take a look at that now. And can I stress again - this is just an example!

First, in the left hand column you list your main issues and rank them according to importance.

(I’ve used a ranking system of 1 to 5. 1 being the least important or effective. 5 being the most important or effective. You may want to include other issues or use different scores.)

As you’ll see, I’ve made sanctity of life one of my key issues. Hence, it gets a 5. (Under that I’m including abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, human cloning.) You may disagree, but the Bible speaks strongly against taking human life, so I think it ought to be somewhere near the top.

My second key issue is religious liberty. 1 Tim 2 tells us specifically to pray for our government to rule in such a way that Christians can communicate the gospel. I think we’d all agree that having the freedom to preach the gospel is vitally important.

Then comes caring for the third world. And so on…

Next, you look at the effect of voting for each party on the respective issues…


So on sanctity of life, I’ve said that if you vote labour there’ll be no effect since I don’t think they’re planning to introduce any policies that would change the law.

If you vote Conservative, I believe Michael Howard’s said he’d give time to considering whether to lower the time limit for abortions. By no means does that guarantee a change, but I’ve shown that the effect would be slightly positive. Hence, a +1 out of 5.

On the other hand, the Lib Dems have said that they want to introduce voluntary euthanasia. So I’ve given them a negative effect of -1.

You then go through each issue and score the parties according to their policies to arrive at a final tally at the end…

Now, though I wouldn’t encourage it, it maybe that you decide to vote on a single issue. So, if it was sanctity of life, you’d vote Conservative.

That being said, it’s worth considering the individual views of your local candidates because it maybe that the Lib Dem candidate, for example, is a Christian and holds pro-life views.

Also, you may find that although it’s a lower priority issue, the Conservative policy on the third world is so terrible that you decide on balance to vote Labour, or whatever.

Well, I hope that’s been helpful. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if, like me, you’re not much of a political animal, I think it’s quite a good way of seeing how we can vote wisely as a Christian.

☻ How to vote Christianly
☻ Resources…
Let me quickly mention a couple of good resources…

- If you log on to www.politics.co.uk you can find out who your local MP is and get contact details for all your local candidates.

- The Christian Institute have a number of resources on their website at www.christian.org.uk There’s a list of all the MPs and how they’ve voted. They’ve also produced a great election briefing, summarising the main parties’ policies on key moral issues.


As I close, there’s a lot to consider. It may seem quite daunting.

But let’s be thankful to God that we have a say in who runs our country. And remember that, ultimately, it’s those in authority who are accountable for how they govern - not the voters.

So, this week, let’s endeavour to pray hard, think hard, and vote as best we can in the sight of God.