Should Christians Vote?
In the last issue of the via pacis, we asked if Christians should vote. This is what you said.
Don Schrader said:
“I oppose ALL war and ALL weapons of war. So in the 2002 election, I voted for no one for U.S. Senate or House because none of the New Mexico ballot candidates took that stand. I refuse to choose between mass murderers!
Both the Republican and the Democratic parties are drenched with the blood of millions they have robbed and murdered in many nations for many decades. There is not a dime’s worth of difference between most Republican and most Democratic members of Congress concerning robbing and murdering our neighbors abroad.
I oppose for anyone to become a solider. So I refuse to vote for anyone for President to be Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. military.
I voted against all bond issues. I have never seen a government agency that could not spend more wisely and stretch the dollars they already have - even those agencies that do some good.
The most radical, non-violent action persons of conscience can take in this society is to pledge publicly to live simply, to own no car and to pay no federal income tax for war for the rest of our lives. I pledge this now at age 56. I lived well in 2001 on $3,845. I have paid no federal income tax for war for 23 years.”
Jim Benzoni said:
“Living responsibly in our world is the very heart of the Christian message of the Gospel. Voting is part of that living responsibly, just as is feeding the hungry or standing up for the powerless. Voting gives a voice to those who are otherwise voiceless. It is how we exercise our right to vote - with conscious awareness and care -and not whether that informs and guides our Christianity. Our charge is to bring Christian principles into a Godless worldly world. A failure to bear witness to our Christian responsibility to our fellow creatures is a failure to fulfill our mission as Christians in a very fundamental way.
A review of the Gospels shows that Jesus was not any ideologue. Rather, he was a practical activist. He sought to empower people. His story of the person who buried his talents, or didn’t bring oil for the lamp, or hid their light under the bushel basket shows his demand for our active participation in the world - showing the world how to live the Gospel here and now. Participation in civic matters, including voting, is part of that witness. The fact that our voice may not be heard or is tiny does not matter. Like the yeast, it only takes a little bit to leaven the whole loaf. It is the witness, and not the immediate results, that makes Christianity a reality.”
Brian Terrell said: “Potentially, voting does more harm than good. Voting, we should remember, is not doing anything to see that justice prevails. It is merely saying that if the majority wants justice, one is willing to go along with everyone else -- a weak statement at best, dangerous if anyone thinks that they are accomplishing anything by it.”
Phillip Berrigan said in Fighting the Lamb’s War:
“I see no point in working within an evil system. Christ was never a reformer. He didn’t advocate voting for one corrupt politician over another. He never urged people to embrace the state. He told parables about putting a patch on an old garment, which would soon unravel. He preached that we should dismantle, not attempt to patch, the state.”
Leo Tolstoy’s 1893 profound book, The Kingdom of God Is Within You passionately champions Jesus’ revolutionary non-violence. Tolstoy’s spiritual son, Gandhi, said after reading it, “I was overwhelmed.”
Here we have a long list of judges for us to vote to retain or NOT to retain. I voted against them all, because all support evil “corrections” system based on returning evil for evil - punishing and branding offenders instead of helping them to change - official retribution and state revenge instead of restoration, reclamation and healing of the community. 