How to be a Christian voter

Let me confess right at the outset that I do not purport to know how to be a Christian voter.  That is, I do not have simple answers to how my faith informs my vote for specific candidates.  Christian leaders are not always helpful.  I am a brother in Christ to Rev. Franklin Graham and align with him theologically.  But when he uses the label 'chocolate' to refer demeaningly to our President, I take offense and fear that he is damaging the cause of Christ.

On the other side of the political spectrum, I am impressed with the clarity of "Sojourners" ministry and align with the heart of Rev. Jim Wallis.  But I fear that evangelism has been replaced by social action and political advocacy.

I watched the Presidential debate Monday night.  Other than a brief discussion of tax policy that cited dueling economists, there was virtually no serious discussion of public policy.  And even the tax dialogue quickly degenerated into ad hominem attacks.  A Facebook friend commented on the debate's missing policy points, "I'm old enough to recall a time when the views of candidates on selected issues would be published side by side in newspapers for everyone to read, think about, and compare. Unfortunately, we voters don't have the advantage of very much of that kind of unbiased, simple, direct, uncluttered information in this supposed Information Age."

I have always voted on the basis of the candidate's public policy stances.  I voted for Jimmy Carter, not because he was a born-again Christian but because Gerald Ford seemed to lack knowledge of foreign affairs.  I have no-one to vote for this year; my vote will be a "least among evils" vote.  Part of the reason is that none of the candidates (not even Gary Johnson) have given me articulate policy positions that merit my support.

Notice, too, that we have not heard -- nor will we -- any discussion of abortion, gay marriage, religious freedom, bathroom privacy, etc.  Strangely enough, I think that's a good thing with the way the discussion of issues such as racial conflict has played out.  The dialogue has not been elevated, it has sunk to lows I could not have anticipated in Presidential politics.  How does a Christian speak into this situation?

Positions taken by evangelical Christians in political forums are often labeled as bigoted or uninformed.  It is also possible that attempting to influence the society through partisan politics has backfired.  That is, "evangelicals" are merely a voting bloc that Donald Trump courts and Hillary Clinton labels 'deplorable.' I want the word to mean "one who loves." ... one who loves God ... one who loves his neighbor ... one who loves and serves the unlovely ... not "one who votes for Republicans."  We should be salt and light in the world, not sandpaper.

In our zeal, we sometimes work against our own interest, rather like evangelical pastors in my first appointment who organized demonstrations against the downtown theater that was showing pornography.  They did not succeed in closing down the theater.  But they did succeed in calling attention to its existence and increasing their box office receipts.

I commented on the Facebook post as follows:  "Perhaps among the lessons learned from this debacle is that Christians should not expect government to do what only the Gospel can do. Moral issues have been absent from the discussion, so we no longer expect our leaders to use the levers of power to accomplish behavior change.  It may be a fruitful time for the Gospel -- or it may move the Church to irrelevancy as it has in most of Europe. I'm praying for revival."

Like I said, I don't know how to be a Christian voter in 2016.