“Hanging Chad”

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Relating to your post "A Vote for God" on June 15: would it be sinful for a Christian to vote for a specific candidate that openly endorses gay marriage or abortion? I am under the impression that it would be wrong no matter where they stand on other issues. Am I on the right path?

Sincerely, Going To The Polls

Dear Going To The Polls,

In most cases, yes, it would be a sin to vote for someone who openly endorses gay marriage or abortion. There are, however, at least two circumstances in which it would be understandable for a christian to vote for someone that endorsed ungodly behavior.

1. If the other candidate is even worse. Unfortunately, there are times where christians have to choose between one ungodly candidate and another even more ungodly one. In this case, a christian has to either not vote (which would offend the conscience of some christians because they would feel they were leaving their moral voice unheard) or to vote for someone who promotes immoral behavior (but they feel is a better option).
2. If the government office has nothing to do with policy. There is a distinct difference between someone running for President of the United States and someone who wants to be County Auditor. Although in this case, I personally still could not vote for the person, it is only fair to point out that there is a reasonable argument to be made that a county auditor is not in a position to affect the laws that address abortion and gay “marriage”.

In those two circumstances, a christian must use wisdom (Rom 16:19) and maturity to discern the right decision (Heb 5:14). If in doubt, it is better to not vote at all than to vote and harm your conscience (2 Tim 1:3).

Having said all that, 99.9% of the time a christian would be in the wrong to vote for a politician that endorsed abortion (baby-killing) or gay “marriage”.

Share