Christian Conscience and the Election
Larry Hart
I read the other day where 800 well known Christian evangelicals (including Billy Graham’s granddaughter and Jim Wallis of Sojourners Magazine) had signed a letter urging people to vote for Joe Biden. I regret very much that I did not have the opportunity to sign it myself; however, since I am neither an evangelical (I am a Christian and quite orthodox but not evangelical) nor of any account, not being asked was entirely understandable. So, I thought while no one who even knows me remotely has any doubt how I have voted, it appropriate to nevertheless take this last opportunity the day before the presidential election to urge everyone I know to vote for Joe Biden. Actually, more than appropriate I consider it a moral obligation. Here in brief, then, is why I do so.
At one time it was common for seminaries to make a distinction between “Practical Theology” and “Academic Theology.” Even as a student this never really made sense to me. For one thing it creates a false dichotomy between thought and action––a notion entirely foreign to the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 6:45). Beyond that it contributes to a compartmentalization of life that allows people to believe that if they are scrupulously moral, “super Christian,” in certain narrowly defined matters they are following Christ even though in other ways they are heartless and dishonest. It is this sort of ignorant thinking that leads people like Robert Jeffress, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Jerry Falwell, Jr., the now disgraced president of a fundamentalist university, and Franklin Graham, the hereditary oligarch of the Billy Graham Empire, to assert that Christians should vote for Donald Trump because of his policies although they cannot approve of his moral character. But to reiterate; act and thought cannot be separated. Bad character inevitably leads to bad policy––’by their fruit. . .”
For me, then, to talk about voting for Trump because of his policies is utter nonsense. Which policies, I wonder, would those be: Ripping children from their parents knowing, and not caring, they would never be reunited? Starving the elderly and children? Destroying the environment? Working to deny the poor and vulnerable adequate health care? Promoting racism and violence? Or, perhaps the policy of callousness so costly in human life here during the COVID 19 pandemic.
The mega church pastors who argue that a president’s character is irrelevant are simply wrong, and it is their own lack of character, craving for status, and financial greed that has led them to be so egregiously wrong. It is not simply that Trump is a bad character, but that he is void of any character in the positive sense of the word. It is not so much that he is immoral but that he is amoral. There is no questioning voice within him, nothing that calls him to goodness or ordinary human decency, much less to follow Christ’s cardinal imperatives of love, mercy, and kindness.
But the total absence of spiritual and moral character is not Donald Trump’s only disqualifying deficiency. He simply has not the competency for the work. The number of people of serious achievement who have worked around and with him in just the last four years who have found his intellectual capacity, education, and experience woefully lacking is astounding. It is this gross incompetency coupled with lack of character, and absence of human feeling, that renders him, in the words of his own family, such a “dangerous man.” As a general rule it can be somewhat dangerous to have a brain surgeon rebuild your car’s engine; or, a mechanic operate to remove a cancer from your brain––especially if neither has your genuine best interest at heart.
In short, Christian conscience and common sense compel me to encourage you in this way. My effort may of course be entirely futile––even among professed believers. As I recall something like 86% of German Christians and clergy were ardent supporters of Adolph Hitler. Nevertheless, this is the direction, whether embraced by few or many, in which I urge you.