Passivity Has Become The Evangelical’s Choice For This Presidential Election.
Where is the Christian Voice in this up coming United States Presidential Election?
It amazes me how politics can change on a whim. For almost four decades the Evangelical voice of the American Christian Church has pushed to get “a man of God” in the White House. The Republicans believe in the trickle down effect, which Evangelicals bought into: if only a man of God were in the White House, revival would then trickle down throughout America. Through him, as our political savior, social injustices would be addressed. How wrong that premise and assumption has been! Four decades later abortion, gay rights, and taking care of the poor are still social themes that supposedly divided this country, but not during this election. You don’t even hear about those issues, because the Evangelical Voice has been muted.
Romney has switched from Pro-Life to Pro-Choice while Obama sides personally toward Pro-Choice but not crusading against Pro-Life stands. What has happened to the Voice of the unborn during this election? The Evangelical and Roman Catholic Church’s voice has fallen silent! Is the efforts to overturn the Roe vs Wade Supreme Court Decision gone? We have been under both party’s leadership in the last four decades, and neither has overturned it. Like Romney, the Church has switched from actively supporting Pro-Life to becoming passively silent allowing Pro-Choice to move forward, as if it is a political nonentity..
The mention of God, I mean lack of mentioning God, almost went undetected in the Democratic Convention’s platform statement, until a last minute “adjustment” was made to include it. Romney’s history as a Mormon missionary, elder, bishop, and now elder statesman, and what that means if he makes it to the White House has been hushed, muted, a nonpolitical entity during this election where religion is being played down. One’s “faith” has not been a political hot bed for the first time in decades. The Evangelical voice again has been politically silenced during this election.
But why should we be shocked. Diversity is one of the strengths of the United States. The Bill of Rights allows and defends diversity! Diversity is at the core of the American experience, yet the Evangelical Church’s political voice opposes diversity. Obama claims to be a man of Christian faith and values, but the religious right refuse such a premise rather than support and encourage him for such claims opting to support a Mormon, whom Evangelicals recognize as a Christian Cult yet fail to voice that claim during this election. Diversity does not claim that “my way is the only correct way”, but the Evangelical branch of the Republican party has bought into that philosophy through their political talk show preachers of conservatism. Evangelical chatter has given way to political chatter. The religious right birthed by Jerry Falwell has lost its Evangelical voice to the Tea Party, who stands for the same “values” without the religious rhetoric and are willing to give up their voice and be silenced about their religious beliefs. Political “Divisions” have replaced political “Diversity” here in American! If the Church can not be united in its diversity, how can it expect a secular government to be so?
What happened to helping the poor? The very man who created affordable health care in Massachusettes in order to thrust himself onto the national political stage, whose advisors were summoned to Washington to pattern the national affordable health care bill nationally, should be ecstatic that his ideas went national, yet vows to repeal the very thing he birthed if he becomes President. Romney’s whole career was based on coming into corporations and doing whatever had to be done to make a profit, even at the cost of losing jobs, employees losing benefits, etc. Now he wants to come in with this same approach to fix health care. At what cost? He wants private health care providers, whose bottom line is to make a profit, to supply health care conglomerates that run hospitals, doctor offices, etc,, whose bottom line is also to make a profit, to be the answer to help the poor who are unemployed, employed but can’t afford health care, and crying out for help. If there is not a profit to make, then where is the voice for the poor? The Evangelical Church founded many of our hospitals to reach the sick, the extremely ill, the dieing as a missionary effort. Now it joins the cry of “who is going to pay for the poor’s health care” rather than sacrificially giving financially to help the poor, the sick, and the afflicted. The Evangelical (like evangelism?) voice for the poor has been muted.
If the Church isn’t going to rise up to help the poor who is? If the Church isn’t going to rise up the take care of the sick who is? If the Church isn’t going to be the voice for the unborn, who is going to speak for them? If the Church soon doesn’t begin to take care of its hurting, sick, financially strapped, neighbors, who will?
Evangelicals, I ask, should we place our trust in government to do it for us since we are not willing to sacrifice to do it, or place our trust in private institutions whose bottom line is to make a financial profit since we aren’t willing to financially sacrifice to invest in each other, or are we to remain politically silent and just belly ache for the next four years? Have we forgotten that belly aching gets nothing done?
Where has the Evangelical Voice gone? Why has it been muted? Why won’t the Church speak up during this election? The Church stayed politically mute in Germany in the 1930’s, and Hitler came to power. If the Church remains muted, what doors will that open in our future that will haunt the Church later?
This political election has definitely caused more questions for me than answers. Would I love to be the emcee of the next Presidential debate.