Vocationem ad Suffragium part 1

It’s been nasty these past few weeks. There was a blissful time this summer when a global pandemic and economic crash pushed the election from the headlines. But now the pandemic is ignored (as the second wave rises) and the election is days away. And it’s nasty. Not just in the news and online chats. In person. In public. In the pulpit.

I watch as people I respected make excuses for supporting evil. I’m told who is and isn’t a good Christian is defined by their vote. I’m told who is and isn’t Christian at all is defined by their vote. And I don’t understand why we speak so militantly to one another, so self-assured, so confident that the other is not worth compassion or not gaining salvation. It's not changing anyone's politics, but I'm afraid it's losing souls. 

No American party is morally pure. No Catholic can find a candidate who is 100% aligned with Church teachings. Compromises are made. Some denominations found that compromises are inexcusable. It is a strong Anabaptist belief that politics is antithetical to a life devoted to God. God is your sovereign. You may in a world governed by politics, but you are not part of it. You do not endorse candidates that only partially align with your beliefs. Rather than lifting someone up, you make political change with your right actions. You do not fight wars. You do not vote. You nonviolently protest. You feed the poor. You tend to the sick. You love radically.

Maybe it’s the Anabaptist blood in me. But that makes sense. Voting is not a biblical command. We don’t have to do it at all, and most Christians throughout time would never have even considered it a choice, much less had opportunity to use it.

But it is an opportunity. One that men have fought for. One that women have been tortured and starved for. One that communities continue to diligently try to preserve. It is one way of many of having your voice heard, your opinion noted, and, if enough agree, your desires reflected in how the country functions. We are a society, and we can fight to make it a moral one. The Catechism says we have an obligation to our civic duties rooted in our baptismal commitment to bear witness to Christ. “It is necessary that all participate…in promoting the common good. This obligation is inherent in the dignity of the human person…As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life (CCC 1913-1915).”

The USCCB’s Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship was written to guide Americans in how to make faithful decisions when stepping into the stressful, click-baity, mud-slinging world of political elections. We are called to use our opportunity to represent Christ, to uphold the sanctity for human life in all forms:

“Similarly [to abortion and euthanasia], human cloning, destructive research on human embryos, and other acts that directly violate the sanctity and dignity of human life are also intrinsically evil. These must always be opposed. Other direct assaults on innocent human life, such as genocide, torture, and the targeting of noncombatants in acts of terror or war, can never be justified. Nor can violations of human dignity, such as acts of racism, treating workers as mere means to an end, deliberately subjecting workers to subhuman living conditions, treating the poor as disposable, or redefining marriage to deny its essential meaning, ever be justified (23).” 

Furthermore, respect for life is linked to our human rights and need for safety, justice, and a healthy environment. The document continues, “All the life issues are connected, for erosion of respect for the life of any individual or group in society necessarily diminishes respect for all life. The moral imperative to respond to the needs of our neighbors-basic needs such as food, shelter, health care, education, and meaningful work-is universally binding on our consciences and may be legitimately fulfilled by a variety of means (25).” How we go about achieving those in a society can be different and result in differences of political opinion, but they must always be weighed into how we form our consciences when we vote.

As I said before, often voting leads to compromising, for there is no purity in modern politics. The bishops say this is understood. Our intentions and our goals must remain pure, even if the candidates, party platforms, or election processes are not. We can vote for a candidate to only promises incremental change (32). We can vote for a candidate who promotes an intrinsic evil (such as abortion or racism) as long as we are not voting for that candidate because of that issue but on other moral grounds (34). And, of course, we have the right to not participate and not vote at all (36). If we took so much care to form a moral conscience in our civic duties, maybe we wouldn't fall prey to being weighted down by propaganda and hatred. 

There is rarely moral purity in politics. A democracy is citizens coming together to shape the society they desire. There is power in the vote. There is responsibility. There is debate and compromise and stress. Because we’re human. But we try and fight and hope for something better. Because we’re made by God. We strive for a better world and try to reflect it back on this earth.