Finally, Some Post-Election Thoughts

If things are going to get as dark as I think they are, our nation’s well-being demands that we find ways to build bridges. The time for recrimination needs to be past.

We cannot spend the next four years beating people over the head for voting for the PEOTUS. If we do that, we are just going to harden tribal lines. Instead, we must appeal to commonly shared values and ask Trump voters too to help us fight things that happen that are morally wrong. We must resist the impulse to browbeat people and congratulate ourselves on our so-called superiority. We must resist the urge to bear false witness by painting groups of complex individuals with broad brushstrokes. That’s part of what got us here, honestly. It’s going to take fair-mindedness and willingness to work with all kinds of people to see to the protection of the most vulnerable in our country.

I am also convicted that I need to reflect on and share more Scriptural justification for moral concerns that arise.

I think of myself as a moderate, but since I have increasingly begun to lean more left in recent years, it is important that I not fall into a tribal allegiance to the Democratic party. I’ve been deeply critical of Republicans who seem to make no distinction between their political party and the call of Christ, but it is equally important that I not react by making a new king out of the Democratic party, out of a reaction to the excesses of the Republicans. A Christian might register with this or that party or appreciate this or that party’s argument more than another, but a Christian ought never to have ultimate allegiance to any one party. A Christian’s allegiance ought to be to Christ. Furthermore, I think the greatest chance to persuade Christians comes through the Word of God itself.

The good fellows on the Pass the Mic podcast (from the Reformed African American Network), Jemar Tisby and Tyler Burns, have discussed their respect for votes of conscience but also the reality that votes of conscience still have consequences.

That makes sense. It will not do to denigrate every Trump voter and put them into a box, but the reality of the consequences of the vote are still there. If I believe if I jump off a bridge that I will fly like a bird, my heart might be in the right place, but that won’t stop me from hitting the water hard. There are three big consequences of strong white evangelical support of the Trump vote that deeply concern me:

Consequences for the faith.

What has broken my heart is that nonbelievers have now definitively seen the Church put power above concern for neighbor or even for morality. Now, some Christians might have reasons they think that was important to do (maybe they are convinced Trump will do more to protect the unborn, for instance). But it is hard for a watching world to receive that conviction when the faithful fill their Facebook feeds and their daily speech with fearful posts about the refugee, the stranger, the poor, or when they ignore in a candidate who will give them power the same moral failures they declared of ultimate importance in another President and leader.