Christianity Today on Voting

Check out the latest article from CT about voting. Here’s a quote:

We only have a few examples today, but Weblog can’t think of any recent articles where a popular pastor or parachurch ministry leader has advocated sitting out the election. Nor have we seen any article by a highly respected Christian academic strongly advocating a Christian obligation to go to the polls. Is there some kind of division here? Is it academically hip not to vote?

The article quotes Rick Warren on the moral duty of Christians to vote. They argue that this is the consensus of most well-known pastors. They quote Mark Noll and Alasdair MacIntyre as two thinkers that advocate NOT voting. MacIntyre says: “When offered a choice between two politically intolerable alternatives, it is important to choose neither.” He also writes:

The only vote worth casting in November is a vote that no one will be able to cast, a vote against a system that presents one with a choice between Bush’s conservatism and Kerry’s liberalism, those two partners in ideological debate, both of whom need the other as a target. … Try to promote the pro-life case that we have described within the Democratic Party and you will at best go unheard and at worst be shouted down. Try to advance the case for economic justice as we have described it within the Republican Party and you will be laughed out of court. … In this situation a vote cast is not only a vote for a particular candidate, it is also a vote case for a system that presents us only with unacceptable alternatives. The way to vote against the system is not to vote.

MacIntyre’s view is presented in greater detail here. Now, the reason MacIntyre gives is compelling. It isn’t exactly my reason for not voting, since my reasons for not voting isn’t just disappointment in the system, but is instead based upon a distrust of any real partnership between church and state as working for Kingdom causes. Nevertheless, he illustrates something quite beautifully: Christians should realize the dangerous power of their vote. No matter who you vote for, you are voting for the lesser of two evils (if indeed you picked the lesser). Such a vote is still a vote for a candidate who will invariable cause some evil. Every Christian should ponder before voting. You can reject my non-voting as an exercise in stupidity. That is fine. My only goal is to make you think long and hard about the consequences of your vote, so that you don’t fall for the lie that a vote for Candidate X is without peril.

for further reading . . .

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