The "Right" Way to Participate

If a person got the entirety of their information from social media or their preferred news source, they would believe there is always a particular, definitive way we should be participating in our democracy. If you believed every meme or link, pastor or politician shared by the people in your life bubble, you'd likely have a clear picture of what your only options were. Depending on who one listens to:

• You should always vote Republican
• You should always vote Democrat
• You should never vote 3rd party
• You should never vote at all
• Involvement in politics is the only definitive way Christ-followers can live faithfully
• Christ-followers must always be above and outside of politics

It is nuts out there and growing crazier and more frightening on a daily basis. I routinely have to step away. I regularly hide people on social media from both ends of the political and religious spectrum because of the lack of love I see, because of consistently sharing unverified and false statements. The tension between the positive and negative aspects of media, both social and otherwise, is often exhausting. I rarely watch the news, I've cut my social media time way down, I've done a lot of unfollowing and hiding when I see consistent extremes or a lack of love, an unwillingness to listen or not valuing truth - all in my feeble attempt to balance this tension.

So -- what does it look like to be a Christ-follower or even just a conscientious citizen, and participate in the form of government we have in the United States? Is there a "right" way to do it? I'm sure you're guessing by now, that for me, the answer to that second question is "No." There are wrong ways, but I do not believe there is one right way. If we can't trust the biased news sources we see, if we often can't trust our politicians or even some of our so-called spiritual leaders, what the heck are we supposed to do?

For me, personally, I begin with some basic reality checks: 

• We do not live in a "Christian nation", whether we like it or not.
• We live in a pluralistic society, within a democratic republic, created to honor our religious (and non-religious) differences. And ALL of those people deserve equal rights - whether we agree with them or not.
• We can learn to be salt and light within those parameters, or we can continue to wage war with the culture we are clearly in.

Then I study, pray, listen, love. None of the ultimatums listed at the top of this page are true. We're never going to agree on all the things. There will not be one right answer in this arena. Yet, what is always true? We love. I've tried to make a list of the things that matter to me and why I believe strongly that we must be actively involved. Prioritizing these beliefs help me determine how I'll vote, how and when I'll speak up, where I'll volunteer and participate. We won't all do it the same. Here are some of my parameters:

• I believe how we treat and talk about immigrants (both documented and undocumented) should reflect an honoring of all life. When immigrants are painted as criminals, rapists, murderers and drug dealers in broad, judgmental swaths, not only is it blatantly false, it is not life-honoring. When individual stories of people's pain and real persecution are treated as lies or irrelevant because they do not fit the narrative, life is not honored. When children live in cages, life is not honored. We can differ on the specifics of how we protect our borders without the polarizing disaster it has become.

• I believe strongly in protecting the life of the unborn, but I also believe in protecting, honoring and respecting the women that will carry those children. There are a multitude of ways we can, and should, do both. Unfortunately, as a nation we have primarily settled into the either/or scenarios of it's only about the baby or it's only about the woman. Any protection of a woman's rights is said to be supporting the murder of babies. Any protection of the baby is hating and controlling women. These two extremes are not only rarely the truth, but harmful and deny actual truths. I would also suggest that never will these two extremes solve any long-term problems, nor do they honor all life. If we could drop our verbal and political weapons and look at the systemic reasons we are at this place, much good could be accomplished. (I have multiple specifics that would be a whole other post or a long conversation I'd love to have, but I'll leave it at this for now.)

• I believe how easily we call for war and the ever-increasing amount of money we are willing to put toward our military versus meeting human need should reflect an honoring of life. When we continue to grow a military that could already turn our earth to dust hundreds of times over, yet turn a blind eye to the poor, homeless and abused, life is not honored.

• I believe how we talk about guns and those ravaged by gun violence matters. Again, when we reduce it to extremes, we are told that either we believe in almost anyone's right to stockpile semi-automatic weapons or that we don't believe anyone should have a gun for any reason. Any thinking person knows these are not where the majority of us sit, but these are the battle lines we've allowed to be drawn, the memes we share, the verbal grenades we lob at one another. When we care more about our rights than those ravaged by gun violence, we're not honoring life.

• I believe when people are arrested, tried and convicted unjustly, when those impacted by this injustice are in overwhelming percentages from minority groups and the poor among us, followers of Christ should be on the front lines to speak against this and work for the systemic change that must happen for these lives to be honored.

• I believe the way we treat people that are and have been incarcerated should reflect a belief that people can be forgiven and made whole. The Church should be at the forefront of rehabilitation programs within and outside of the prison system. We should be the front lines of reform in this area. Prison reform must look at who we incarcerate and why we choose incarceration over other options that have proven to be more effective at rehabilitation and reform.

• I believe we should honor the sacrifice and diligence many of our law enforcement officers give their life to and for. We should also be on the front lines of making sure our law enforcement officers are trained in ways that reflect an honoring of all life and that when they do not perform in a way that reflects that training, they are held accountable every single time. When we reduce this to either/or and either deny the existence of many admirable people in law enforcement or deny the lives being lost unjustly, excusing them as exceptions or blaming the victim, we do not honor life.

• I believe the way we choose to treat the most inhumane in our society should reflect Christ more than it reflects their heinous crimes. Yes, they should be kept away from society for the remainder of their lives, but I do not believe that their inhumanity should bring us to practice inhumanity towards them. I do not believe the death penalty lessens crime, but I do believe it makes us less human.

I believe that our calling here is to work to leave this world and it's people better, to love our neighbor and want their lives to be better. We are not here to protect ourselves, defend our faith, stand up for our rights - nowhere in scripture is this our calling. The Church must be on the front lines of protecting the rights of all people, not just our own. If our lives are improving, if our rights are protected, if we're flourishing while others suffer and we're content to turn a blind eye, we're not living out His greatest command. (See Jeremiah 29:7 and Matthew 22:37-40)

I fully recognize that these are hot button issues and we do not have to agree on all these points. I am certain there are issues I have not touched on that are at the top of your list. We can, in the midst of our disagreements, recognize that there might be reasons that someone could be a devoted follower of Christ AND choose not to vote Republican. Or not to vote Democrat. Or choose to vote 3rd party or not vote at all. There are valid reasons that someone may vote or believe differently on any number of issues and still be thoughtful, engaged, loving human beings. We must stop questioning the intelligence or wisdom or depth of compassion of people because they've come to a different conclusion than we have. We all have much to learn. We all need to leave space to acknowledge that we might be wrong. Just as I know many of you reading this will disagree strongly with me on some of these points, I also recognize that many of you have prayed, studied and reflected before coming to that differing opinion. Jesus was not a Republican. He was not a Democrat. He was not a capitalist. He was not a socialist. I have strong disagreements with both parties - disagreements that reflect how my faith leads me to honor all life as bearing the image of God.

In the end, it comes to this. I am a registered Independent. I will look first at the integrity and character of candidates. If they cannot be trusted, if they do not respect others, if they cannot work respectfully with those they disagree with, then what they claim to believe or support means nothing. If we end up more divided, nothing lasting has been accomplished. After that, I will look at the whole of their platform (not just one or two tenets - see above) and how they choose to work that out in their policies. I'll consider how that will work alongside the checks and balances we have in this country. I'll listen, I'll pray, I'll read. I'll listen some more. If I'm going to participate in the way our country was designed for us to participate, I'm going to have to make hard choices at times. You are too.

Much of our political arguments start and end in the extremes. (See: All Democrats are socialist baby-killer clowns or All Republicans are racist child-cagers, and on and on.) There is almost zero nuance or grace given from either end of the political spectrum. I believe if we could stop the posturing, stop the memes and judgmental sound bites, the defensiveness, the screaming across keyboards, if we could stop listening to the talking heads from MSNBC to FOX, from CNN to OAN and sit down with our neighbors and have real, authentic conversation, we would find the grace and truth to move forward - not necessarily agreeing, but at least without sacrificing the ways Jesus said to practice our faith in the real world.

If we do not live a life, and interact with our government and each other, in a way that reflects a respect for all life, if our integrity and the integrity of those we champion does not reflect what we say we believe, if we do not adamantly and consistently practice truth telling (including what we post and share), our opinions will mean very little to a watching world.

The powers-that-be have tried to force us into only two extremes. And for the most part, we have lined up willingly and followed along. But we do not have to. We should not. If we are falling completely in line with one party or the other, we are likely giving our allegiance to our politics, over and at the expense of our faith. If we are defending/following a person or a party at the expense of the teachings of Christ, we are not honoring Him. 

Perhaps we could listen to people and ask questions with a truer desire to hear their answers. We could sit together at tables rather than raging through comment threads. We could stop judging other people's standing with Christ or the legitimacy of their convictions based on which party they ultimately decide to vote for.

If we abandon the Sermon on the Mount to "win", we have not won.