Yes, I believe Scripture is clear that God expects every Christian to vote when given the opportunity.
Voting is a duty and a responsibility.
And Christians should vote for leaders who promote Christian principles.
God is certainly in control, but does that mean we should do nothing to further His will?
Our Founding Fathers agreed with God, but unfortunately, too many professing evangelicals today do not agree. Apparently.
Be informed, not misled.
A new survey by the Cultural Research Center reveals that Evangelicals are fewer than previously believed in the U.S., and they're not interested in engaging others who believe differently than them on political and social issues.
As I read through the research, I found it disappointing and, in some ways, not surprising.
New data reveals that the perception of Evangelicals as a powerful voting group is off the mark. Many don’t practice what they preach, and others of those who do aren’t all fired up about putting their faith into action—that's according to a study released by the Cultural Research Center in Arizona.
Arizona University Cultural Research Center was co-founded by George Barna.
Polls showed that Evangelicals—to the tune of 80%—helped Donald Trump secure the White House in 2016. They solidly backed him again with 80% in 2020.
Barna says, “What happens these days is this term, ‘Christian Evangelicals,’ is used to build fear in the minds and hearts of the voting public. How? Because journalists will tell people, ‘Well, you know these Evangelicals, they’re Christian Nationalists. They don’t want a democracy; they want a theocracy.'”
So Barna’s group reshaped the definition of "evangelical." Holding that designation to a different standard, the CRC survey found the number to be closer to 10% of the voting population and closer to 25 million people.
As a group, Barna lamented that the diminished figure wasn’t going to the polls en masse.
“What we find is 10% actually meet the theological criteria for what makes someone an Evangelical. That’s closer to maybe 25 million people. That’s nothing to sneeze at. That’s an important group, a potentially influential group – but it’s not what we’re led to believe,” Barna said on the Washington Stand.
The survey found that more than one-third of Evangelicals are unlikely to vote this fall. That's about 8+ million voters out of --- if Barna is correct---25 million actual evangelicals.
Barna thinks this survey is more accurate than most in the past because part of the glow around Evangelicals may have come from previously playing free and loose with the definition.
“A lot of that comes from research that relies on people calling themselves Evangelicals. Our research tends to not take people at face value with those types of labels. What we do is figure out what the definition is, then ask people components of the definition and put it together to see how many fit it,” he said.
Barna sounds the alarm.
That approach led to a lower estimate of overall numbers. Within those fewer numbers were findings that Barna argues should alarm genuine Evangelicals.
“Many of the people who even qualify as theological evangelicals don’t really buy the Bible at face value. Many of their beliefs are not consistent; now many are, I’m not saying it’s a lost cause or [that] they’re bad people, but there’s a lot of misinformation in the minds and hearts of people who even when you define them theologically as Evangelicals,” Barna said.
"For starters," he continued, "many Evangelicals don’t daily practice the Bible’s teachings. Theological Evangelicals are dialed into the Bible from a big-picture perspective but struggle with some of the details. That makes them susceptible to slick advertising and catch campaign slogans," Barna said.
“They’ll believe in the biblical notion of God. They’ll believe that God is the basis of truth and that the purpose of life is to know, love, and serve God with all their heart, mind, strength, and soul. They believe the universe was created by God, the reality of Jesus Christ, that He lived on earth, and they believe that Satan exists.”
But when the conversation drifts from those kinds of “Sunday School 101” concepts, things get murky, Barna said.
The study looked at roughly 80 different segments of the population and found that Theological Evangelicals ranked near the bottom in terms of people likely to enter discussions with others who believe differently on political and social issues.
What does God expect from biblical Christians?
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.”
These are the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran Pastor who took a stand for righteousness and was killed by the Nazis for resisting the regime.
We may not be at that point yet in America, but the left is breaking every rule, violating every law, and bending every truth to take power in our nation and dispose of God's authority.
Takeaway
- It is the duty and responsibility of every Christian to vote and to vote for leaders who promote Christian principles.
- God is most certainly in control, but that does not mean we should do nothing to further His will. We are commanded to pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
- In terms of politics and leadership, there is evidence in Scripture that God has been displeased with our choices of leadership at times (Hosea 8:4).
- The evidence of sin’s grip on this world is everywhere. Much of the suffering on earth is because of godless leadership (Proverbs 28:12).
- Scripture gives Christians instructions to obey legitimate authority unless it contradicts the Lord’s commands (Acts 5:27-29; Romans 13:1-7).
- As born-again believers, we ought to strive to choose leaders who will be themselves led by our Creator (1 Samuel 12:13-25).
- Candidates or proposals that violate the Bible’s commands for the sanctity of life, family, biblical marriage, or faith should never be supported (Proverbs 14:34).
- Christians should vote as led through prayer and study of both God’s Word and the realities of the choices on the ballot.
In the USA, Christians have been blessed with the right to speak about and choose their leaders without fearing for themselves or their families. In recent U.S. elections, about 2 of every 5 self-professed Christians took that right for granted and did not vote. About 1 in 5 self-professed, eligible Christians are not even registered to vote.
That means 20% of Christians aren't even registered to vote.
In our day and age, many want to drive the name and message of Christ completely out of the public arena. Voting is an opportunity to promote, protect, and preserve godly government. Passing up that opportunity means letting those who would denigrate the name of Christ have their way in our lives.
The leaders we elect—or do nothing to remove—greatly influence our freedoms. They can choose to protect our First Amendment right to religious freedom and the right to spread the gospel, or they can restrict those rights. They can lead our nation toward righteousness or toward moral disaster.
As Christians, we should stand up and follow our command to fulfill our civic duties (Matthew 22:21).
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Faithful. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.