North Carolina’s primary elections and Virginia’s presidential primary elections are set for March 5. Are you ready?
Sadly, an estimated 15 million Christians across the nation are not even registered to vote.
“Two-thirds of Christians vote — obeying Christ’s command to be salt and light in our world. But a significant minority won’t, choosing to hide their heads in the sand and avoid politics rather than bring the light of their Christian influence into the darkened corners of culture. But that’s precisely the environment into which Christ calls us to take the hope of the gospel,” wrote Jason Yates, CEO of My Faith Votes, in a recent editorial.
Baptist Press says evangelicals have a “pitiful record” when it comes to voting, noting that over the last three decades, on average roughly half of those eligible to cast a ballot made the effort to do so.
The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, says Christians in North Carolina should be especially compelled to vote this year because so many seats are up for grabs. Roughly 10 percent of state lawmakers are vacating their posts, as are more than a fourth of Congressional incumbents.
If you haven’t decided whether you even want to participate in the primaries, first check out these five reasons that you should.
(1) Governments are established by God. Voting is one way that we submit to the authority of the political system as described in the first seven verses of Romans 13.
(2) As Christians, we should want to better our community and the society we live in, even though we are sojourners in a foreign land. 1 Peter 2: 9-17 speaks to this.
(3) We are commanded to pray for our leaders in 1Timothy 2. Voting shows that we care deeply about who fills those roles.
(4) Representative democracies like the United States don’t function unless people vote. Few would argue that as Christians we reap the benefits of living here, so we should play a part in upholding our republic.
(5) Christians are to be good stewards of our resources. Voting is one of those. We should not refuse to vote simply because we don’t see an ideal candidate on the ballot. If you believe that all the candidates in a race are so morally bereft that you cannot in good conscience support one of them, you may choose to exercise the write-in option on your ballot and insert the name of someone you do believe is worthy of the office.