Someone just the other day sent me a direct message in Facebook Messenger. “Brian, I follow your FB threads. Do you believe a Christ follower is justified before God, should they support the Democrat platform/candidates?”
Rather than respond directly in Messenger, since I figure many of my online friends and acquaintances may have similar questions, I decided to go ahead and write a blog article answering the question. In addition to making it easier for me to point people to my answer on this topic (instead of having to repeat myself in multiple direct messages or individual FB comments), putting it on my blog also makes it a public record to which I can point should anyone misquote me or take a sentence or two out of context (we all know how internet debates work).
For the record, I have voted for Republicans for most of my voting life. In 1980, when I was in sixth grade, I was promoting the Reagan-Bush ticket in our school’s mock elections. In 1984, I attended a rally where President Reagan spoke at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock (I still have my Reagan-Bush ’84 campaign button tucked away in a box somewhere).
I turned 18 in 1987, so the first election I got to vote in was 1988, and I gladly voted for Reagan’s vice president, George Herbert Walker Bush, who was running for president on the GOP ticket. I voted for the elder Bush again in 1992, and against the then-governor of my state, William Jefferson Clinton (I had already had enough of Clinton, as he had been the governor of Arkansas about half of my life at that point). I voted for Bob Dole in 1996.
In 2000, I actively campaigned for George W. Bush, a compassionate conservative. My family and I attended a campaign rally in Little Rock’s Riverfront Amphitheater. I was in the very front row of the standing area, right against the security barricade. When W left the platform, I got to shake his hand as he made his exit from the rally along the front of the crowd. My wife Diana was further back up in the seating area, holding our daughter Briana in her arms, with Briana waving a small 4x6 inch American that the campaign had handed out to attendees as we entered the park. A newspaper photographer captured an image of Diana and Briana, and it ended up in the Northwest Arkansas edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In 2008 I cast my vote for John McCain, and in 2012 I voted for Mitt Romney.
In all my voting life up to 2016, I had always voted for the Republican candidate for president. The only time I had voted for a Democrat for any significant office (when there was also actually a Republican on the ballot for the office in question) was in the Arkansas lieutenant governor's race one year. The candidate running on the GOP ticket was spouting a lot of harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric, and as someone who is married to an immigrant (my wife is now a naturalized citizen) and has been actively involved in ministry to immigrants from Latin America, I could not in good conscience vote for that candidate. (In Arkansas, the Lt. Governor really doesn’t have much power. It is primarily a ceremonial office, presiding over the state senate for the 3-4 months every two years when the legislature is in session with the ability to cast tie-breaking votes, and serving as acting governor when the sitting governor is out of state, unable to fulfill his/her duties, or impeached or otherwise removed from office).
There have been a couple of other times I have voted for a Democrat for a state office, when I personally knew the candidate and considered them to be a dedicated Christian of solid character. One such candidate was a fellow ordained Assembly of God minister who was very conservative on social issues such as abortion and sexual ethics. When he was in the state House of Representatives, he was known by members of both parties to be a man of integrity who couldn’t be bought, or looped in to back-room deals.
In 2016 I cast my vote for president and vice president for the Constitution Party ticket, and in 2020 for the American Solidarity Party (whose party platform is arguably the most biblically-aligned stance I’ve ever seen in politics). My vote does not automatically belong to the GOP; they must earn it, and with someone of such questionable character as Donald Trump on the presidential ticket, they did not earn my vote in that race either year (I did vote for all the Republicans down-ticket).
So, after all that, to answer the questioner’s initial query, I would say a Christ-follower cannot support the Democratic platform because of its blatant opposition to biblical principles. But neither can a Christian who seeks to follow Scripture in all of life give full-throated support to the GOP platform, especially with the changes that were recently made just before the 2024 Republican National Convention, eliminating the explicit pro-life language, and approving of alternate sexualities that go against God’s plan for humanity as revealed in the Bible. And then the Republicans platformed a porn star who promotes sexual libertinism and atheism—well, so much for being the party of family values.
As for Christians supporting Democratic candidates, that comes down to the individual candidate. Not all Democrats are robots who blindly follow the national party's platform. Christopher Butler, an Assembly of God pastor in the Chicago area and co-host of The AND Campaign’s “Church Politics” podcast, threw his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination for his congressional district in Illinois. I would have no problem voting for someone like Chris who has demonstrated character, integrity, and a biblical worldview, regardless of the party listed next to his name on the ballot. (You should really add the Church Politics podcast to your weekly playlist—they consistently approach things from a biblical starting point, and call out errors on both the left and right).
I was raised to always keep at the front of my mind that everywhere I went, and in everything I said and did, I represented my family, my local church, and ultimately, Jesus Christ. I was to always consider how my words, actions, and attitudes would lead people to think positively or negatively about the people, church, and Savior I represented. It was drilled into me that I might be “the only Bible some people will ever read.” This mindset was encouraged by my parents, my youth pastors, speakers at youth camps and monthly rallies, and other church leaders.
I was taught to never give in to peer pressure and always have the courage of my convictions. To stand firm, even if it meant standing alone. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel were held up as role models. Russ Taff’s song “Not Gonna Bow” was an anthem for the youth group.
Over the past ten years or so, I have witnessed some of the same people who taught my generation not to succumb to peer pressure, themselves give in to group-think, allowing the crowd to persuade them that “We’re voting for a president, not a pastor” was somehow a valid argument for supporting a candidate of extremely questionable character. Even though in my youth these leaders claimed to place the highest value on personal character, ethics, and integrity, it seems that years of ongoing culture wars, combined with feeling under siege from anti-Christian and politically antagonistic elements in society, has led many of them to adopt a “victory at all costs” mentality that is completely divorced from—and in opposition to—the way Jesus taught His followers to live. This is diametrically opposed to the truth I was taught that “the ends do not justify the means.”
I saw one minister, who was my team leader on a short-term youth missions trip to Latin America and one of my counselors at summer youth camp, reach the point where over 60% of his posts on Facebook on a daily basis were caustic swipes at the opposing political party (using language such as demon-crats and lib-tards). Yes, an ordained minister talking that way about people for whom Christ died. The balance of the posts were a mix of generally (non-political) humorous memes, and posts about Jesus or the Bible (with the humor outranking Christian-themed content many days). This same brother had a massive stroke that took his life a few days after he was hospitalized. I can’t help but think that his constant political outrage contributed to his own death.
One person with whom I grew up—attending the same youth rallies and church camps—has frequently disparaged people online who voice concerns about what Evangelicals’ all-in support for Trump is doing to the witness of the church. He has said more than once that they are “clutching their pearls” (which itself could be interpreted as a misogynistic stereotype of females as portrayed in films and TV in the 1950s/60s). It sometimes seems that short-term victory in the political arena has become more important than being personally molded and conformed to the image of Christ.
I’ve been told I’m foolish for voting third-party in the presidential elections of 2016 and 2020, when that vote was based on not violating my own conscience after careful consideration of my principles. Individuals whom I know would be telling their own kids to “stand up for what you know is right” were criticizing me for sticking to my guns regarding the necessity of character in government leaders. Rather than respectfully disagreeing with my conclusions, while showing understanding for how I reached them, they would say things like, “If you vote for anyone besides Trump, you’re voting for Hillary (2016) or Biden (2020)!” [Note: that is mathematically false. Taking my vote away from one major party candidate and giving it to a third-party candidate only increases the gap between the major party candidates by one vote. If I were to actually switch my vote to the opposing major party candidate, then that would be increasing the gap to two votes between them, reducing one side while simultaneously increasing the other side. So if anyone tries to tell you that not voting for candidate X is equivalent to voting for candidate Y, I wouldn’t trust them to manage your money, because they cannot handle even basic math.]
I could go on, but I’m sure I’ve already tried people’s patience enough with the length of this post. I’m sure I’ve upset some people with what I’ve said here. But again, I was taught by my godly parents to be more concerned with truth and integrity than with other people’s opinions. And I remain confident that there are plenty of people who, while they may not agree with all my conclusions, will at least respect me for being a person of conviction.
Well said.
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