Have you ever assumed all Christians would be politically conservative? Recently I have discovered this is not true. To be clear I am not talking about being Republican or Democrat. When you hone in on specific parties or people within parties it is easy to become distracted from the topic at hand. I'm talking about ideology.
What political view ought a Christian have? conservative or liberal? Even if they are realistically unattainable on this earth, what is the best ideology to take on as a Christian? Allow me to define "Christian". I'm not speaking of cultural Christians or non-practicing Christians. I am talking specifically about devout followers of Jesus Christ who have a biblical perspective and are motivated to "go and make disciples" as well as read their Bible and pray each day. I have recently encountered two examples of liberal voting Christians and it has truly fascinated me. I'm not sure if everyone else in the pew just appears to go with the conservative flow. Are these two examples flukes of nature?
Example 1
Back in 2008 I had a conversation with a Christian friend who supported a presidential candidate with very liberal views. He explained that his candidate supports lots of government, lots of charity to the poor, inner city and third world countries. And as a Christian with a missionary perspective, these are good things to achieve. Therefore he would be supporting a liberal presidential candidate. I was blown away. I could not believe my ears. I had never known such a devout Christian to lean so far to the left politically. And the guy he voted for wasn't just slightly left of center. To me this was puzzling. (Side note: even the opposing candidate was on the liberal side of many issues, but wouldn't it be rational to go with the lesser of two evils?)
Example 2
Recently a friend posted on facebook "you can be a Christian and a Liberal..... it's allowed". Even though every bone in my body told me "leave it alone Nate, your about to open a can of worms" I couldn't resist. I posted back, "So as long as your giving to people it doesn't matter how much debt you accumulate in the process? Is that what your saying? Is that a tenant of the Christian faith? Help me understand that from a biblical perspective." Needless to say my questions were viewed as combative at first. And in hind site I admit I didn't express my curiosity in any sort of tactful way. My friend defended his stance and a couple other people chimed in to defend him as well. And to their credit some good thoughts and interesting arguments to support the liberal voting Christian were made. I however am not convinced or persuaded that it is righteous or pious to take on a liberal perspective as a Christian.
Arguments For The Liberal Voting Christian
- XYZ Republican is corrupt and greedy
- Taxes are biblical and we should submit to that
- Republican XYZ cut taxes and spent more, Democrats raise taxes and spend more which is a better model and I'd rather spend money we have than money we don't
- The national debt is not Democrat XYZ's fault
- The national debt is previous Republican XYZ's fault
- Republicans are fiscally irresponsible, except for this one guy XYZ who I like
- Christians can't even agree on theology or denomination, how can they agree on politics
- You can be Christian and conservative, moderate or liberal
- Political views have nothing to do with salvation
- Jesus isn't a politician
- Republican & Democrat labels will not exist in heaven
- God judges the heart, motives and actions directly taken by the individual
- As long as you voted according to your conscience, that's what matters
- As long as you have reasons to back up your decision, that's what matters
- You have no place questioning differing political views of other Christians
- You can't win with politics, you get criticized for voting liberal and for voting conservative
- I vote for who can help the most people, Democrat or Republican
- Democrats care more about the people and where the money is going
- Republican's decided to go to war
- I vote the way I feel is best
I have underlined in red what I believe are the most notable points. However I still do not think they are good arguments to support a liberal voting Christian. Notice that "conservatism" was never directly attacked only republicans in general. I am seeking a well thought out answer to the following question. What political view ought a Christian have? Please explain and give real life examples as well as examples from scripture. For the sake of the argument, simply opting out and not voting is not an option. Imagine someone has a gun to your head and your forced to pick conservative or liberal what do you pick and why? Maybe a good place to start would be outlining the liberal agenda and comparing that with the conservative agenda and see how both line up with Biblical truths.
