Welcome to Break Point, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm Johnstone Street.
Well, after his White House days, Chuck Colson spoke clearly and often about issues of personal and public morality, criminal justice, the limits of the state, religious freedom, and many other matters that are related to politics, but. He never publicly endorsed a political candidate, and the Coulson Center remains committed to that very wise practice. At the same time, Coulson believed that every citizen should have the right, and therefore also had the moral responsibility to vote.
Something that was taken from him because of his criminal conviction in the Watergate proceedings. After Florida Governor Jeb Bush restored his full civil rights as a citizen, including the right to vote, in the year 2000, he went on to advocate for the same thing. For anyone who had paid their debt to society, but Chuck also believed that for Christians the duty to vote went way beyond our rights as citizens of the United States. Saint Augustine had taught that citizens of the kingdom of God should always be the best citizens of whatever society they were in. What that meant for us, Chuck believed, is that we must vote.
Now it's understandable that some Christians will struggle to see how voting can be a sacred activity when looking at a. Ballot that offers so little that aligns with their values. Even so, the choice to not vote in order to maybe keep our hands clean—that's a form of pietism, not Christianity. James is clear: if there is good we can do, we should do it. And to not do the good we can is sin.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who faced far worse political realities than ours, rejected pietism as contrary to Christian responsibility. Christianity is an incarnational faith," he wrote, "and so it has to be lived out in the tempest of the living," as he put it. But how should we vote? Christians and other citizens of conscience will often describe voting as the choice between the lesser of two evils. A former colleague of mine has suggested an approach that I think is way better.
Christians should think of voting not as choosing between the lesser of two evils, but as a way of lessening evil. Not only does this approach better fit the political realities of our current context, it recognizes the inherent limits of politics—limits that we seem to have forgotten in this hyperpolitical moment. Also, voting to lessen evil recognizes the moral inadequacies of candidates while still seeking to accomplish good through our vote. In the American context, the lesser of two evils approach always exaggerates the importance of individual political. Candidates, both for good and for evil, especially who's in the White House, but that in turn can lead people to underestimate the importance of local and statewide elections and midterms like the one coming up next Tuesday.
But as Chuck Holton often said, salvation will never arrive in Air Force One, and neither, for that matter, will the apocalypse. And yet, on issues that matter the most, like life and family, children's rights, and religious liberty, the midterm elections on November the third, including state and local races and the many, many, many ballot initiatives, will all be incredibly consequential. For example, several states are voting on ballot issues related to sex-based school sports and even whether children should be so-called medically transitioned. Fourteen states will vote on amending state constitutional rights, including about things like marriage and the rights of religious individuals and groups. Once again, abortions on the In Nevada, Virginia, and Idaho, voters will decide if abortion is a formalized right, even a constitutional right, in two of those states.
And in Missouri, voters have the opportunity to reaffirm a statewide abortion ban.
Now, of course, this election will also determine which party will hold the majority in state houses, as well as in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Voting to lessen evil can help us navigate between flawed candidates while not excusing bad character. It recognizes, for example, that characters both revealed. By a candidate's behavior as well as his or her policies.
Look, our prayer and our vote should always be for the best outcomes. Still, the most important work the church does is pre-political. It matters who's in the White House and who's in the State House, but it matters way more who's in our houses. Years ago, Chuck Colson observed that the church had become dangerously polarized into two camps, politicized and privatized views of faith. But neither view, he said, had anything to do with historic Christianity.
In Christ, our hope is found. Our hope is neither found nor lost in elections. Still, he has called us to engage this world around us as ministers of his reconciliation. For us in this moment, that will mean more than just voting, but it will not mean less.
So vote so that good can be upheld. Vote so that evil can be lessened. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for more resources to live like a Christian today, and to share this commentary with other people, go to Breakpoint.org.
Hi, I'm Adam from Texas, and I'm a Cornerstone partner because now more than ever, all followers of Christ must be able to stand up for their faith and speak truth and love to the hurting world around us. The Colson Center has helped not just my wife and I become better apologists, but it has supported us in countless conversations with our children. My prayer is that they will be equipped to boldly engage with the culture and shine brightly for Him and the world throughout their lives. If you would like to join myself and over a thousand other people in becoming a cornerstone partner, visit colsoncenter.org/slash-monthly.
