Dear Christians, voting your morals isn’t imposing your religion

“You can’t legislate morality.” I have heard that most of my life. Having studied ethics academically and lived life for 38 years, I believe that phrase needs another clause.

You can’t legislate morality, but legislation is based on morality.

I agree that we cannot make people moral by simply enacting certain laws. However, laws rest on moral philosophies and presuppositions. Governing bodies and politicians enact laws because of their moral preferences and commitments.

Laws are not amoral; they are moral.

So, dear Christians, this midterm voting season, do not succumb to the illogical and patently wrong notion that Christians should not vote according to their Christian morals. Christians must absolutely vote in accordance with their Christian morals and virtues, as informed by the Bible.

No one checks their beliefs, morals, and virtues at the door before voting. Even an atheist has moral presuppositions that, I assure you, inform how he or she votes. Everyone votes for people and positions based upon their personal moral code and convictions.

On the upcoming midterm election day, we will vote for politicians. Politicians have their own morals and virtues. Thus, when you vote for a politician, you are voting for the moral platform you want underpinning the next round of legislation. Many of us will also vote on amendments and propositions. No matter how bland or exciting they may be, they all rest on moral preconceptions. This makes voting and engaging in just about any political process a moral exercise. 

Some in our society want Christians to feel bad about voting according to their Christian views. They say voting and politics should be amoral, pluralistic, and non-religious. They say that if Christians vote according to their Christian morals, then it undermines our pluralistic democratic process by imposing the will of Christians on everyone else. But as I’ve tried arguing up to now, all voting is a moral exercise.

Christians have as much right to vote according to their beliefs and virtues as every other non-Christian does in America. But the point I am stressing is that everyone, Christian or not, assuredly votes according to their own moral preferences. Why should it be any different for Christians?

Therefore, Christians must not succumb to the false claim that if we vote according to our convictions and morals, we are imposing our religion on non-Christians. Imposing one’s religion on others means forcing people to adhere to specific faith commitments or practices. For example, Christians are not voting to force anyone to repent of their sins, place their faith in Christ, join a local church, and worship on Sundays. What are we voting for then?

When Christians vote according to their Christian morals and virtues, we vote to promote the common good for all people in our society. The Bible’s moral foundation rests on God’s perfectly good nature. God embedded His essential moral precepts into the created order and implanted them within human conscience (see Romans 2:14, 15).

Thus, the Bible’s morals and virtues are not only for Christians. In some ways, they are implanted in every person’s conscience because we are made in God’s image. This means that what the Bible calls moral and virtuous is essential to secure human dignity, goodness, and flourishing. Biblical ethics are not just Christian ethics; biblical ethics are human ethics.

I once heard a well-meaning Christian explain that, as a Christian, he personally did not support abortion. But as an American, he would never vote in favor of restricting abortion for other Americans who may not share his Christian moral convictions. He misunderstood that biblical morality applies to all people, not just Christians. He also misunderstood that Christians have a duty to vote in ways that promote God’s moral standards of justice and virtue. Why? Because this is what is best for the common good of all people in a society.

If all people are made in God’s image, then what God defines as moral and virtuous is necessary for all people to find goodness and flourish. We often say, “All truth is God’s truth.” With that spirit in mind, I say God’s morality is morality for all.

Dear Christians, this voting season, vote according to your Christian convictions and moral standards. Everyone else will vote according to their own moral preferences; why not you, too?  Do not accept the false claim that if you vote according to Christian morals, you are imposing Christianity on others. Everyone who votes, in some sense, imposes their views on others who may vote differently.

Christians must recognize that we have a duty to vote according to the Bible’s moral precepts. Because in a very real sense, biblical morality is what secures the common good for all people in our country.