It’s common for unbelievers, particularly atheists, to say that Christians should not be involved in politics. Why might that be so? A large percentage of the population, that is, millions of people, are professing Christians: should we Christians forego our right to vote and to engage in the dialogue and the system because of what we believe and profess while those with views and agendas of their own make all the decisions?

Why would an unbeliever be happy for everyone else to have their say, in what they may call “tolerance” for differing views, except Christians who should be silent? Could it just possibly be because they are at heart solidly behind the big push to do away with all  Christian and Biblical influence in society: one man and one woman in marriage for life; sex as an expression of committed, married, heterosexual love; parental commitment to their children;  the sanctity of all life including the unborn and the elderly; respect for authority and law; caution and sensitivity in the arts; minimal, local government and not global government; fiscal responsibility; freedom to prosper; freedom to choose to be generous rather than having money taken away by law?

Millions of Christians failed to vote in the last presidential election – why? Worse than the unbeliever wishing to deny millions of people their freedom of speech and their right to take part in government, we even have those in the church who will say the very same thing, that Christians should not be involved in politics. Refer to the above paragraph.

Imagine that men like Abraham Lincoln and William Wilberforce had taken the view that believers should not be involved in politics, they would not have been in any position to fight the curse of slavery. Many politicians over the centuries have stood up for the rights of the oppressed and for godly principles in government. Part of our problem now is that there are not enough truly principled people in office –  people who believe in telling the truth and who believe that some things are right and some things are wrong.

If we fail to engage, the Muslims, homosexuals, atheists, Marxists, radical feminists and others will not.

Whose world is it anyway? Didn’t God create, with the intention that mankind would dominate the earth? Isn’t God our heavenly Father? I’m not talking about a theocracy here, I’m saying that we have as much right to take part in decision making as does the atheist, and more than that, we have a duty to care about how all people are going to be treated and what kind of society our children grow up in.

I know that Jesus didn’t run for office or vote – he wasn’t a politician. In fact there were no votes, there was no democracy, there were no elections, Appointments and decisions were made from on high and everyone had to put up with them. You will not find in any part of the Bible where  Jesus, Paul,  or anyone else told their leaders to repent of being in their position of power unless it was because they were ungodly leaders. John the Baptist told Herod very clearly what he thought of his lifestyle.

We still have a right to have some kind of say in what goes on, though this is by no means permanently guaranteed. The right to vote and to have an electoral process at all has been literally fought for and defended with the blood of millions of young men. Are we now going to give up that right and allow the ungodly or some religion hostile to our culture to run amok? Surely not! Get out there, register and vote, and support the candidate who expresses and demonstrates godly, Biblical principles. Our future, and the future of our children, is to a large extent dependant on who we vote into office.

“Oh”, some may say, “but God will take care of us!” I agree that He will, spiritually and ultimately. But look, for example, at Nazi Germany, and the many Christians there and in neighboring countries who lost their freedom, their homes, their children, their sons and their lives under Hitler.  History is blood – stained with such miseries, and there will be more still if Christians back out of the political process. Yes our system is corrupted to an extent, and yes there are problems, but that’s no reason to throw it all away.

For God or for tyranny!

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